Revenue Sharing

One way for our governments to work together is to share tax revenue generated by new projects that impact multiple communities. Such revenue sharing agreements are created under Joint Economic Development Districts or JEDDs. Akron and Summit County have used such agreements to accelerate economic growth, and now Painesville and Concord Township in Lake County are implementing a JEDD to help ease the pain caused by the relocation of a hospital.

News Herald Correspondent Sue Karel explains the deal in this story. She wrote:

The JEDD is a collaboration between Concord and Painesville that officials say should stimulate economic growth in the township’s Auburn-Crile Road Business Corridor, while allowing the city to recoup some of the tax revenues — about $600,000 annually — that will be lost when Lake Hospital System relocates its Painesville hospital to Concord in 2009.

“The JEDD contract permits the city to bring one of its strongest economic development assets, electricity, to the … Auburn Road Corridor,” Painesville City Manager Rita McMahon said.

“It also provides the city of Painesville the opportunity to bridge the gap in income tax revenue created by the departure (of the hospital from the city).”

JEDDs are smaller versions of the bolder regional planning and revenue sharing initiative being pursued by the Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association. Learn more about that initiative at RevenueStudy.org. Regional collaboration among governments is required if we're going to grow our region's economy. The Lake County JEDD is another step forward that hopefully will encourage residents and elected officials to explore even broader arrangements.

Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone, who leads the Northeast Ohio City Council Members Association, said on Wednesday that the council group is ready to partner with the Northeast Ohio Mayors & City Managers Association on helping the region shape a regional planning and revenue sharing program.

Details of what the mayors and city managers are exploring can be found at www.revenuestudy.org.

Listen to what Matt Zone had to say during a call-in radio program on WCPN yesterday.

Listen to the full program that explored the potential benefits of revenue sharing and regional planning in Northeast Ohio.

Watch Pepper Pike Mayor Bruce Akers explain the outline of regional planning on the May 23, 2008, episode Feagler & Friends on WVIZ.

Building off of the regional planning and revenue sharing work of the Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association, elected officials in Summit County are taking a deeper dive into the issue of revenue sharing.

According to this story from Rick Armon of the Akron Beacon Journal, Summit County Executive Russ Pry met with mayors from Barberton, Fairlawn, Richfield, Stow, Tallmadge and Twinsburg to propose a study to create a local tax-revenue sharing program.

The program is to prevent Summit County communities from “poaching” companies from each other. When this happens, the losing community takes a blow to their tax revenue.

''We want to make sure we are trying to build the region and not take companies from cities within the county,'' Barberton Mayor Bob Genet said.

The effort to explore revenue sharing in Summit County is another example of how Northeast Ohio communities are embracing new ideas that can lead to positive change and a growing economy.

Chris Warren, the city of Cleveland official in charge of regional development, outlined the city's vision for working with others throughout Northeast Ohio to build a globally competitive regional economy.

"Regionalism is critical and is within our reach"  -- Warren told the City Club.

You can read the Plain Dealer's story on his comments here.

One of the key points emphasized by Chris Warren was the importance of developing a revenue sharing program among Northeast Ohio's many local governments. You can learn more about the regional revenue study that is under way by the region's elected officials here.

For regional revenue sharing to succeed, there will need to be broad public support for the effort. In my travels around Northeast Ohio, I've found more support among elected officials for revenue sharing and a lot of uncertainty among the public. Please take the time to learn more about the region's revenue sharing study.