LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) -Â The Allen County Commissioners held a special session to discuss how implementing tax increment financing into the county will impact infrastructure and costs amid new projects.
Tax increment financing, or TIF, redirects certain amounts of property taxes toward funds dedicated to infrastructure, including roads, electric lines, and sewers.
Officials with the Allen Economic Development Group and the Commissioners Board discussed the effects TIF could have on the county if it was implemented into the industrial park.
Public finance attorney Jeffry Harris said TIF would not be taking more from individuals, but from individual sites and properties to help fund projects in the county.
"It's only on each property. So, anybody who's out there living out there or in the area would not be impacted at all. It's only each individual site in the industrial park," said Harris.
"They themselves would pay into this TIF fund, but no one else would have any impact."
Trustees with Perry and Shawnee Townships were present at the meeting, and were concerned about TIF directing funds away from other projects and affecting revenue.
"The problem I have with it is that so much of the money will be concentrated on McClain Road going north and not so much Breese Road going west to exit 120," said Paul Neff, Shawnee Township trustee.
"The concentration of the trucks will be Route 65 and Interstate 75, the state route, and the interstate versus Shawnee. That road needs to be widened, but there's not enough money to do that right away."
Discussions about TIF come primarily as a result of the new Amazon logistics center being developed in Shawnee Township, which will bring in more truck traffic and require road developments for McClain and Breese Roads.
