The Cincinnati Beacon
TIF and The Banks: Tax Dollar Boondoggle?
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
 Photo courtesy of here.
So what’s going on with The Banks? How is it being funded? Are there questionable deals in the background regarding the use of TIF generated funds? Is the City of Cincinnati improperly utilizing tax money in their attempt to pay for a grandiose downtown vision?
A few days ago, I sent a short question to Mayor Mallory and City Council: “Is it true that TIF money from city-wide TIF districts is being tapped for funding The Banks?”
David Crowley’s office replied: “No. TIF districts by definition require that any money generated in a TIF district, which is no more than 300 acres, has to be reinvested in the same 300 acre district. While the specifics of how the Banks TIF district money will be spent I believe it is expected that at least some portion of it will be used on the Banks project.”
State Representative Tom Brinkman, however, disagreed. “We have discovered several occasions where the City of Cincinnati took money from one area wide TIF and spent it in another area,” explained Brinkman. “They took TIF money and gave it to Western Southern for their building at Third and Broadway. They are taking money generated by the Banks TIF district and spending it on the Streetcar which lies mostly out of the Banks TIF area. Thus they have NO money for the Riverfront Park and now that the County Commission has discovered this, this undermines the financing for the Banks.”
Crowley, on the other hand, questioned the accuracy of Brinkman’s claims. “The State law allowing for the creation of TIF districts prohibits using TIF dollars outside of the original TIF,” said Crowley. “The City has abided by that law. If he has any evidence to the contrary I would be happy to have the City’s Finance Department provide further clarification.”
For Brinkman, City Hall has been silent on this issue. “I was in a meeting with Mayor Mallory and other legislators when we confronted the Mayor about the Western Southern building and he said he knew nothing about it but would look into it.”
“I have never heard back from the Mayor,” said Brinkman.
Crowley later offered clarification regarding the Western Southern building. “When the TIF district was drawn up the property at 303 Broadway was specifically cut out of the TIF and made its own project TIF,” explained Crowley. “So that building is not part of the TIF district but rather a stand alone project based TIF (which was the way of “TIFing” things before TIF districts were used). Presently either method can be used although it is my understanding that the State of Ohio is doing everything they can to prevent new TIF districts because the districts are ensuring that tax money is invested locally, where is was originated, rather than at the State level which they would prefer.”
Brinkman remains critical about the City’s progress downtown. “I sure haven’t seen any more dirt moved since the April 2nd press conference, have you?” he asked. “Where is the TIF money for the Over-The-Rhine area? Ask 3CDC. They convinced City Council to give it all to them for their plans. The City Council has abused the area wide TIF laws and cross promised the money to so many groups, they can not even keep it all straight.”
“Ask the County Commissioners about the TIF money they ‘thought’ was going to the Banks,” suggested Brinkman.
“I said pretty clearly at last week’s Commission meeting that I think it is a mistake to use almost the entire ($25 out of $30M) ‘Banks TIF’ (the district south of Fifth Street to the river) for the streetcar, especially when so little of the streetcar route would be south of Fifth St.,” said County Commissioner David Pepper. “There are many long-term needs on the Banks, including the park, long-term infrastructure needs, etc. While we’re moving forward on the Banks, there’s a long way to go on the project.”
“I support the street car concept if an appropriate and responsible implementation plan can be put in place,” Pepper continued, “but I don’t think it’s wise to divert from the TIF millions of dollars that could be spent meeting future Banks needs.”
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