At its planning committee meeting, the Akron City Council approved an ordinance to temporarily add Summit County parcels 1505630, 1504125 and 1504082 to the Copley-Akron joint economic development (JED) district so the city can collect income tax on construction labor and infrastructure work during construction of Swan Lake phases 5 and 6.

Clerk Sarah Viviano read the ordinance as "item number 11 under new legislation," describing the change as a temporary amendment to the JED agreement and noting the measure included an emergency declaration. Director Lettl told the committee the amendment would allow the city "to collect income tax for all labor or all construction companies working on the project, and, also, it will allow us to collect all income tax for all the infrastructure, i e water sewer installations." He said the work covered would include builders, plumbers, HVAC contractors and roofers associated with the roughly 24 residential homes in the final two phases.

Lettl said the city will use Summit County building permits as the administrative trigger for collections and that taxation would cease for each parcel once a certificate of occupancy is issued. He described the arrangement as a temporary mechanism the city has used in other projects and asked the committee for any questions.

The chair moved to suspend the rules to place the ordinance on consent; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Individual roll-call votes were not recorded for that voice vote. Committee discussion on the ordinance was brief and focused on timing and the temporary scope of collections.

If approved by the full council and the mayor as required by procedure, the amendment will allow Akron to collect construction-period income taxes on contractors and infrastructure work for the listed Summit County parcels during active building. The committee placed the ordinance on consent for the next legislative step.