CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — A Pickaway County citizens group says the Board of Commissioners has approved another tax abatement, the latest in a string of large development incentives the county has granted this year as growth accelerates around Rickenbacker International Airport.
Teays Valley Against Overgrowth, a group that has organized against rapid residential and commercial growth in the Teays Valley Local School District area, said in a Facebook post that Commissioner Gary Scherer made the motion to approve what it called a “massive” new community reinvestment area and tax-increment financing agreement. The group’s post did not name the company or development involved and did not detail the size, duration or terms of the tax break.
Scherer, a Republican, represented Ohio’s 92nd House District from 2012 to 2020 before being elected Pickaway County commissioner that same year. He previously worked as an accountant.
Community reinvestment areas and tax-increment financing agreements are tools Ohio local governments use to exempt new industrial, commercial or residential development from a portion of property taxes for a set number of years, typically in exchange for job-creation commitments and payments meant to offset the added cost to local school districts.
Pickaway County commissioners have approved several such agreements this year amid a wave of industrial development near Rickenbacker. In May, the board granted a 15-year, 100% property tax exemption to Core5 Industrial Partners for a $147.7 million warehouse and manufacturing project on Airbase Road in Madison Township. In June, commissioners approved transferring a separate tax-incentive package tied to a more than $180 million industrial project in Harrison Township — originally negotiated with VTRE Development LLC — to two affiliates of VanTrust Real Estate LLC.
Teays Valley Against Overgrowth has repeatedly raised concerns that the pace of new construction is outstripping the capacity of local roads, schools and emergency services in the Teays Valley area.
The information contained in this story was obtained from a Facebook post by Teays Valley Against Overgrowth. Pickaway County had not published board minutes confirming details of the agreement as of this story’s publication.
