Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rda Milford Solar2 topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Redevelopment agency weighs triggering tax-increment period for Milford Solar 2; questions on dates, parcel list and unpaid economic grant
Summary
Beaver County’s redevelopment agency reviewed a developer request and staff recommendation to formally trigger the tax-increment period for the Milford Solar 2 project and flagged discrepancies in dates and parcel listings that staff must correct before final action.
Redevelopment agency members and county staff reviewed the status of the Milford Solar 2 project and discussed next steps for formally triggering tax-increment financing and confirming related obligations under the participation agreement.
Staff recommended that the RDA adopt a resolution authorizing a “trigger letter” to the county auditor stating the tax-increment period should be recorded as beginning March 1, 2024. Agency counsel explained that interlocal agreements governing the tax-increment participation use a March 1, 2024 date, and that other documents submitted by the developer had inconsistently cited March 1, 2025. The staff recommendation was to use March 1, 2024 as the operative date so that the auditor and taxing entities are placed on notice.
Agency counsel said the practical effect is likely to reduce the number of years of tax increment available to the developer compared with the 12-year period the developer referenced in its letter. “By the time they finalized construction, got the solar project on the tax rolls, it would probably be at least 3 years of time by which the tax increment… would have occurred,” counsel said, noting the developer may therefore receive closer to eight or nine years of tax increment rather than a full 12-year window.
County staff also reported duplications in parcel numbers within the draft project-area map and said legal descriptions and the county’s survey/engineering staff must reconcile those duplicates before any final resolution. The county treasurer specifically asked that staff provide a corrected parcel list; agency counsel said the governing legal descriptions will control but that an amendment can be processed to fix duplicated parcels.
Separately, the agency discussed a one-time economic-development payment identified in the participation agreements: three separate battery-backup (BESS) projects attached to the solar projects each carry a $30,000 one-time payment for county economic planning. Staff said the participation agreements make the payment due within 30 days after commencement of construction of a BESS facility. The county’s finance staff reported they had not yet received the $30,000 payments and recommended the RDA send a courtesy letter calling attention to section 2.3.06 of the participation agreement and asking for clarification and payment if construction has commenced.
RDA members asked for updated capital-expenditure numbers and an updated incremental-revenue forecast so the board can compare the project’s original 2021 economics to current estimates. Agency counsel said he would finalize a draft resolution and supporting updated budget/economic numbers and present them to the RDA and county commission at the next meetings (staff aimed for April 1 for an RDA/commission packet and to consider the refund and the trigger resolution together). County staff also agreed to provide corrected parcel listings and any state-land status questions.
No final resolution was adopted at the meeting; staff and counsel said they planned to return with a formal resolution and corrected supporting materials at the next RDA/commission meeting so the RDA could act to send the auditor a trigger letter and update the project economics.
