Village Council approves second TIF area, $193,800 for new ambulance
“On a third reading, Sheffield Village Council unanimously approved an ordinance declaring approximately 150 undeveloped lots on or near Colorado Avenue eligible for a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) real estate tax exemption. The commercial lots are on or near Detroit Road.
Council voted 5-0 on the village’s second major TIF. Councilman Walter Min, who was out of town on a business trip on March 11, had made his support of the TIF clear on first and second readings in February.
“The Sheffield-Sheffield Lake school district will still receive its full share of that real estate tax revenue,” Mayor John Hunter said. “We’ll get more of that revenue, but it’s the state and county that will get less.”
If and when that property is developed, Sheffield Village would receive 38 percent of that revenue instead of about 9 percent without the TIF agreement. That extra money can only be spent on infrastructure to improve the value of the TIF area.
“Our increased revenue from our TIF on the Detroit Road area is how we were able to pay our 20 percent share of ODOT’s (Ohio Department of Transportation) widening project for Abbe Road from Detroit Road to (Lorain County) Community College,” Hunter said. “Sheffield Village police officers will direct traffic while the area is under construction this summer. We’ve found that drivers will pay more attention to an officer in uniform than they will to guy in a yellow vest with a flag. We’ve asked, and ODOT agreed to do the work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. so traffic can go through there during the day when all the students are going to and from the campus.””
Edwards, John. Sheffeild News 23 March 2013.