Girard Council looking to add developments to city
GIRARD On Monday, members of the Girard City Council met to discuss several agenda items.
One item up for discussion was an ordinance regarding property taxes in the city and how it could help bring in new developments to Girard.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) was discussed during the meeting, and an ordinance was passed that follows the guidelines of TIF eligibility.
It is a mechanism that local governments in Ohio can use to fund public infrastructure improvements, according to the Ohio Department of Development website.
TIFs are designed to "lock" the taxable worth of real property at the value it holds at the time that legislation is passed and approved.
Payments received from an increased assessed value of any improvement on the property beyond the original taxable worth would be moved into a separate fund to finance the construction of public infrastructure projects.
Public infrastructure projects examples include:
- Public roads and highways
- Water and sewer lines
- Remediation
- Land acquisition
- Demolition
- Provision of gas, electric and communications service facilities
- Enhancement of public waterways
It is noted that public infrastructure projects do not include police or fire equipment.
Girard City 1st Ward Councilman Keith Schubert told 21 News that the program would act as a sort of repayment to the city for working on public infrastructure improvements.
Councilman Schubert believes that this would encourage developers to move into the area.
"It's a way to sort of encourage someone to come into town. Property that maybe wasn't used, that property has been vacant there for many years, and now it's going to be reused and new developments put on it," said Schubert.
Councilman Schubert aims to see the completion of new developments by late 2026.
"We're just excited again to have some new development going on in the City of Girard. That's been lacking in our community and someone that's willing to put the investment in, we're willing to see what we can do to help them out and move this forward," said Schubert.
