Recently enacted H.B. 110, the State of Ohio’s Budget Bill, has created a new grant program (O.R.C. 122.6511) to cover up to 75% of a project’s total cost to help remediate brownfields. The program, called the Brownfield Remediation Program, resides within newly renamed Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). H.B. 110 provides that the Director of Ohio Department of Development will determine project eligibility, project sponsor eligibility and administration for the new program pursuant to administrative rule. The program must be operational and accepting application within 90 days of budget bill’s effective date (September 29, 2021). H.B. 110 appropriates $350 million for the new program for state fiscal year 2022. Of that amount, H.B 110 further provides that $1 million will be reserved for each Ohio county for the first year of the program with all remaining funds after such reservation awarded by the ODOD on a first-come, first served basis. There is authority to re-appropriate any unencumbered balance of funds in the program to state fiscal year 2023.

H.B. 110 has made certain changes to Ohio’s Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) law pursuant to newly enacted R.C. 715.72(A)(10), (11); and (J)(2). The new provisions relate both to the creation of a new JEDD or amending an existing JEDD Agreement. It requires new notices, new JEDD Agreement terms, and exclusions of land from JEDDs if any part of the JEDD is located either within one-half of one mile of a municipal corporation that is not a party to the JEDD Agreement or is within an area covered by or subject to a water or sewer service plan or agreement. Unless an owner of any such land signs the JEDD Petition, such land must be excluded from the JEDD District.

Newly enacted R.C. 122.17(A)(11) and (D)(2)(c) creates a new “megaproject” designation in the state’s Job Creation Tax Credit program. The new provisions allow a tax credit of up to 30 years for very large projects, defined as at least $1B in capital investment or $75million/year in new payroll and average wages at least 300% of the federal minimum wage. The new provisions also allow JCTC recipients to include work-from-home employees in their job creation calculations (new R.C. 122.17(T). In addition, “megaprojects” were added into the Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) program (new R.C. 3735.65(E)) authorizing local jurisdictions to award additional 15 years of tax exemptions to megaprojects.

  • H.B. 110 enacts new R.C. 122.17(C)(2) to establish a new rank-ordering of Job Retention Tax Credit application priorities (new R.C. 122.171(C)(2)).
  • H.B. 110 makes a change to the State of Ohio’s Opportunity Zone tax credits (R.C. 122.84) to  increase to $2 million limits on credits awarded to individual taxpayers each fiscal biennium;
  • H.B. 110 helps further define production contractors from those which may claim the state’s film and theater tax credit (R.C. 122.85);
  • H.B. 110 authorizes an income tax deduction for capital gains received by investors in certain Ohio-based venture capital operating companies (new R.C. 122.851);
  • H.B. 110 lastly authorizes an extension of the state’s Transformational Mixed Use Tax Credit (R.C. 122.09) from 2023 to 2025 and sets at $100 million the maximum annual credit allotment during those two extra years.

H.B. 110 makes changes to the eligibility criteria and investment requirements to ODOD’s Rural Business Growth Program (R.C. 122.151) and requires new types of applications to be accepted by ODOD within 30 days of the budget bill’s effective date.

The Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority’s new National Road Business Park recently received the prestigious “Best Site Development or Building Project award” from Ohio Southeast Economic Development. The Port Authority hopes that the park, which has up to ten sites outfitted with water, sewer and electric services, will attract businesses to the area. The Port Authority noted that companies have been eyeing the site, which is ready to house commercial occupants.

Read more at the Zanesville Times Recorder.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it is awarding a $35 million grant to the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) and the City of Cleveland to rebuild an aging public housing complex in the Cleveland’s Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood. The complex currently consists of 487 units, which will be replaced by 800 mixed-income rental homes.

This Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant is part of a larger push by community actors to revitalize the area. CMHA was approved for a federal Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant in 2018, and has partnered with various local organizations including The Community Builders, Inc., Care Alliance, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and the Council for Economic Opportunities. Nationally, the $35 million grant is part of $160 million that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is distributing to revitalize public housing in underserved communities.

The completed project, which draws funding from a variety of sources, will include newly-built subsidized housing, additional rentals, an early childhood education center, a health clinic, and new space for retailers to move in. The project will also assist community members access resources including jobs, educational opportunities and healthcare. The first phase of construction is slated to begin this fall – a mixed-income apartment building located at 9527 Buckeye Road.

Rather than using the State of Ohio’s Chapter 166 Loan Program, the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) recently found that the newly refunded State of Ohio Rural Industrial Park Loan (RIPL) Program was a better fit to finance the construction of a 30,000 sf speculative building in Lawrence County’s South Point Industrial Park and a 19,135 sq. ft. facility in Ironton that will attract new businesses and accommodate existing business expansion in Lawrence County.

By way of background, the State’s newly refunded Rural Industrial Park Loan Program (RIPL) promotes economic development by providing low-interest direct loans to assist counties, municipalities, townships, non-profit organizations, port authorities, community improvement corporations, and private developers in financing the development and improvement of industrial parks and related off-site public infrastructure improvements.

Continue Reading Ohio Rural Development Loan Program Successfully Finances Two New Spec Industrial Buildings in Lawrence County

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (currently led by former Ohio 11th District Congresswoman Marcia Fudge) has selected Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) as one the lead public housing authorities (PHAs) to participate in a six-year demonstration project to aid low-income households in relocating to more prosperous communities. The demonstration will receive $45.7 million in total funding.

Through this demonstration, participating PHAs will provide over 10,000 families with children better access to low-poverty neighborhoods with high-performing schools and other strong community resources. Participating regions of the demonstration represent diverse housing markets, population sizes, local laws regarding source-of-income nondiscrimination, and experiences implementing housing mobility programs.

Under the program, which was designed based on data showing that zip code is a strong indicator of a child’s long-term prospects, CMHA will receive nearly $5 million. The funds will be used to help families research, relocate, and access resources to start out in new communities. To qualify, families will need to be from low-income neighborhoods and have children under the age of 12.

Read more at Cleveland.com.

This Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Policy Summit is a regional conference that explores solutions at the practitioner and policy levels to challenges that low- and moderate-income communities face. The biennial multi-day event offers its audience of researchers, academics, practitioners, and policymakers the latest research and best practices through presentations and real-world conversations.

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