Youngstown Board of Control OKs pact with Aqua Ohio
YOUNGSTOWN
The city finalized an agreement with a no- compete clause to sell up to 2.2 million gallons of water a day to Aqua Ohio.
The contract, approved Tuesday by the city’s board of control, ends plans by the ABC (Austintown, Boardman and Canfield townships) Water and Storm Water District to buy bulk water from Aqua rather than from Youngstown.
The no-compete clause forbids the city and Aqua to sell water in each other’s current service areas in Mahoning County.
Does the deal also signify Youngstown’s attempt to revive the city’s efforts to create joint economic development districts (JEDDs)with Austintown and Boardman, a plan that fizzled shortly after it was introduced three years ago?
“Some people will infer” JEDDs are coming back “in light of the Aqua agreement,” said Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams.
But the city never abandoned its plans to work with surrounding communities on JEDDs, and the “Aqua agreement stands by itself,” he said.
“People are going to read into things in any number of ways,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, they can’t say we’ve been inconsistent.”
Under the 2008 proposal, Youngstown would have reduced its 2.75 percent income tax by 0.5 percent to those who work and/or live in the city.
Also, those working in commercial areas of Austintown and Boardman, that receive Youngstown water, would have paid a 2 percent income tax with the townships able to add their own 0.25 percent income tax on those same residents.
A study paid for by Youngstown said $439 million could go to the city and the townships over a 20-year period.
“Youngstown hasn’t abandoned its plans for JEDDs,” Williams said. “JEDDs are one option. It is something that has to be negotiated. I’ve always wanted to have JEDD discussions. It’s needed for economic regional cooperation.”
Though an agreement last year between Youngstown and Girard on the $650 million expansion project at V&M Star was not a JEDD, it is a perfect example, the mayor said, of regional cooperation.
The two cities are splitting the 2.75 percent income-tax profits from the expansion of the company that is primarily on property Girard gave to Youngstown, at the request of V&M, with property acquisition handled by Youngstown.
Austintown Administrator Michael Dockry said township officials are interested in discussing JEDD deals with Youngstown for undeveloped commercial property.
“If there’s a joint benefit to both [communities] then there’s reason to talk,” he said. If Youngstown is “interested in JEDDs on existing properties then there’s no benefit to the township.”
The Aqua deal led an attorney for the ABC district to threaten legal action against Aqua because of the no-compete clause.
The contract calls for Youngstown to sell 250,000 to 2.2 million gallons a day to Aqua.
Also Tuesday, the board of control voted to allow V&M to use a 12-acre parcel on Division Street to dump dirt as part of its expansion.
In addition to that expansion, city Finance Director David Bozanich said city officials expect to hear relatively soon from V&M about a potential $250 million melt shop facility and $10 million corporate office at the company’s location off of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.