Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tax Increment Financing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City moves to rewrite Meadows TIF after audit finds legal gaps
Summary
City staff found three defects in the Meadows Tax Increment Financing (TIF) ordinance and proposed a new TIF to correct them; council scheduled public hearing and first reading June 9 and staff recommended waiving the second reading.
Huber Heights city economic development staff said the city will replace the existing Meadows Tax Increment Financing district after an internal audit identified errors in the original legislation.
The audit, presented by Jason, the city—s economic development director, found that the 2023 ordinance used the wrong district type (an "incentive district" intended for housing), omitted the percentage of tax increment to be captured and did not specify a time period. "TIF, the acronym stands for Tax Incremental Financing," Jason said, and he told the council the new ordinance would correct the three defects while keeping the same list of allowed uses such as facade improvements, storm sewer, water and other public infrastructure.
Why it matters: If left uncorrected, the city risked losing a year of incremental tax revenue and creating a legal mismatch with county and state tax collectors. Jason said staff engaged Squire Patton Boggs to draft the new TIF, notified Montgomery County and local schools, and plans a public hearing and first reading of the corrected Meadows TIF on June 9. Staff recommended waiving the second reading to expedite filing with the county and state.
City officials described the timeline and outreach: Jason said he discovered the problem April 4, engaged outside counsel April 17, met with county officials May 1 to explain planned changes and notified Huber Heights City Schools and Miami Valley Career Technology Center on May 21. "We caught it before potentially losing a year of revenue," a council member said after staff—s presentation.
Council members and staff said the audit is broader than the Meadows case: city leaders described an ongoing incentives audit that will review all TIFs, community reinvestment areas, enterprise zones and other incentives, and will aggregate documents in a shared site so finance and legal can verify collections and compliance. The council asked staff to focus the historical review beginning in 2021.
Next steps: Staff will bring the corrective ordinance to the June 9 meeting for a public hearing and first reading, then file the adopted documents with Montgomery County and the state within the required window.
The city did not report a formal vote on the item at the work session; staff scheduled the ordinance for the next council meeting and the required filings with county and state tax authorities.
