Butler County Finance Authority details tools to spur redevelopment, workforce links

Joshua Smith, president and CEO of the Butler County Finance Authority, presented a 2025 update to the Butler County Commissioners outlining the authority’s recent tools, partnerships and priorities.

Smith said the authority’s vision is “to achieve economic resilience by connecting capital to mission, people to opportunity, and ideas to impact,” and described a set of financing and coordination efforts intended to revitalize underused sites and better link training programs to jobs.

The Butler County Finance Authority (BCFA) has established a jobs and development bond fund and formed the Southwest Ohio Improvement Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, Smith said. He told commissioners the U.S. Department of the Treasury granted BCFA certified development entity status, which enables the authority to apply directly for New Markets Tax Credits to help close financing gaps on projects in low- and moderate-income areas.

Smith described efforts to inventory available greenfield sites of roughly 40 acres or more that have utilities nearby, noting that large greenfield parcels are increasingly scarce in Butler County and that future growth will likely require redevelopment of brownfields and grayfields. He identified the Milliken Road interchange as the largest remaining greenfield development opportunity and said the authority is discussing a site at State Route 129 and Bypass 4.

Smith also reported work on an aviation strategic plan intended to coordinate activity among the county’s three airports and to position Butler County for advanced air mobility opportunities. He cited the presence of GE Aerospace and local firms such as Volant Aero as reasons to pursue aligned planning.

On workforce connections, Smith said BCFA supports the advanced manufacturing hub (AM hub) and is coordinating with Miami University’s new polytechnic program and Butler Tech to link training to employment. He described a “committee of 17” made up of large employers and local government representatives and quarterly convenings of economic development practitioners across the county.

As examples of redevelopment outcomes, Smith pointed to a converted industrial site in Lindenwold — referenced in his remarks as the Schuler Bittinghoff and Mill project — which he said produced 125 market-rate apartments and commercial space after a structured lease and sales tax exemption assisted reuse. He said such projects can spur adjacent commercial activity and broader neighborhood improvements.

Smith told commissioners BCFA helped on roughly five structured-lease transactions in the past year, participates with regional partners such as Ready Cincinnati, and is emphasizing a capital stack that can support remediation and infrastructure costs for difficult redevelopment sites. He said the authority recently finalized the aviation strategic plan and has begun phase 2 work to assemble a county-wide working group, and that BCFA’s 501(c)(3) status is newly approved.

No formal action was taken at the meeting on the items Smith discussed; he concluded by thanking the commissioners and offering to answer questions.