Wednesday, July 22, 2015
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
After about a 20-minute explanation from the Mahoning County commissioners, it became clear that the racino tax increment financing district, or TIF, would not benefit Austintown schools directly.
The township school board invited all three county commissioners to its work session Monday afternoon to discuss the TIF for Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course. The presentation ended with the school board’s asking for help with repainting Raccoon Road, a county road that runs along the school campus and is closest to Austintown Middle School.
A letter was sent to the Mahoning County school board, now known as the Mahoning County Educational Service Center, in fall 2013 notifying it of the TIF district. County Commissioner David Ditzler said the commissioners received a letter back from the county board of education “that they acknowledged receipt” of the letter.
Due to the way the TIF is organized, no school board action was needed for the TIF district to progress.
“If the board would have responded to the letter other than just making us believe that you [the Austintown school board] were in the understanding of it, we would have called you into a meeting and explained it to you,” said Carol Rimedio-Righetti, Mahoning County commissioner. “As a courtesy, we sent it. If you would have had a question on any of it ... we would have set up a meeting and had you downtown or come up here and explain it to you.”
“They voted in and did it, and they just have to notify us,” said Vincent Colaluca, superintendent of Austintown schools. “We definitely would have been asking the commissioners not to do something like this, especially in 2013 [when] we were losing money from the federal government and the state ... or done some other type of TIF that some of that money would have come back to the school district” then.
The TIF is a 50 percent district, meaning it will take about $8.7 million over the first 10 years the racino is open to be used for infrastructure improvements in the three TIF corridors. The other $8.7 million is to be paid like normal taxes by Hollywood Gaming. About $1 million of the TIF funding was used to build the road from Silica Road for the racino, so a little less than $7 million is still available, Ditzler explained.
He further said that if the TIF district had been 100 percent, the local school board would have needed to agree to the TIF district. Ditzler, a former Austintown Township trustee, said township officials pursued a 50 percent TIF district to avoid the public perception of a tax break to the new industry on state Route 46.
“The racino pays 100 percent of the taxes it would normally pay. It’s just divvied up in a different fashion to be able to improve the infrastructure,” Ditzler said.
The first time TIF funds can be touched is 2016, and that first draw will repay that road work for the racino. The first draw for infrastructure work will be 2017, and at that point, the TIF board will assess and prioritize road projects.
County commissioners pointed out that paying for road improvements with TIF funding opens up the budget of Mahoning County Engineer Patrick T. Ginnetti for work in other parts of the county not near the racino, such as Struthers and Poland.
Colaluca said Monday the commissioners were invited to attend as school officials were looking over the budget and trying to determine the financial impact of the racino’s operating in the township.
“We’ve been asking for Raccoon Road to be adjusted and repainted for eight years now. All we’re asking for is painting. It’s very unsafe,” Colaluca said. Ditzler said the Raccoon project definitely will be among projects considered by the TIF district board.
“We’re definitely going to be realizing less money than anticipated” from the racino, Colaluca said. “[We got] double hard hit for us with the governor’s new budget. We’re losing money for that, too.”
The biggest project involved with the racino TIF is the improvement of Meridian Road from the Trumbull County line to Cornersburg. That project’s cost is estimated to be between $12 million and $15 million and would be done in three phases. “That’s in need of improvement badly,” Ditzler said.
The superintendent also asked for the county’s assistance in explaining to residents that the racino does not mean a new flow of revenue for the schools. Colaluca specifically mentioned two renewal operating levies on the November ballot before township residents.
“This is something that we’re going to need [the community] to support us on, and these two renewals are vital. Basically, we would be thrown into fiscal emergency if those were not to pass,” Colaluca said.