City hears Summit County revenue-sharing MOU and backs joining ZIP-code lobbying coalition

The Intergovernmental & Utilities Committee reviewed a renewal MOU with Summit County and a proposed contract with Van Schoyak Associates to lobby for a single ZIP code for Green during its Oct. 14 meeting.

Chair Mister State introduced Resolution 2025-R-44, a renewal of an existing intergovernmental agreement used by Summit County communities since about 2008 to share limited tax revenue when businesses relocate between municipalities. City administration representative Heather Russell explained the updated MOU increases the payroll threshold that triggers the revenue-sharing payments to $4.5 million and uses two payment tiers over five years to partially offset losses when a business moves out of one city and into another.

"This agreement has been in place essentially since 2008," Russell said. "The glaring change is that they have increased the amount of the payroll... threshold of 4 and a half million dollars." She said the MOU's tiered payments are designed to soften the fiscal impact when communities lose a business.

Council members asked who had signed the revised agreement. Russell said several communities were still completing their local legislative processes and that she would bring back the signature page in two weeks showing which municipalities had joined. A council member noted that Hudson has withdrawn from the agreement.

On a separate item, the committee considered joining a national ZIP-code advocacy coalition by contracting with Van Schoyak Associates (VCA). The proposed contract caps the city's share at $12,000 (capped at $1,000 per month). The mayor said research previously identified roughly $600,000 in lost local income related to Green's multiple ZIP codes, although the mayor said that some recoveries may have occurred and that the figure cannot be firmly verified.

"The estimate was we had lost $600,000 over a period of time," the mayor said. "Now we think most of that has been recovered because we pay a firm to go after lost income, but there's no way to verify whether we've recovered at all."

Council members asked whether the $12,000 is a per-community fee and how many communities were participating; the mayor said about 14 jurisdictions were involved and that the law department could cover the city's share from its legal-fee line. The committee placed the VCA contract on first reading and asked administration to provide a breakout of which communities had joined and which businesses left since the threshold change so councilors could better assess the city's position.

What happens next

Administration will return with a signature list of participating communities and a breakdown of businesses that moved since the threshold change. The VCA contract was taken up on first reading; council may vote at the appropriate time following committee review.