Offer to Amazon fuels space, tax debate
If Amazon decided to come to Columbus with 50,000 workers, Judyth Box wonders what could happen to the Scioto Peninsula in Franklinton.
“It swallows up all the peninsula project,” said Box, who leads the Franklinton Area Commission in a neighborhood that is set to be developed into acres of shops, restaurants, offices and housing, just west of COSI.
Box said the scale of the Amazon project “would be too big for the peninsula.”
“That’s not called diversity,” she said.
Columbus entered the nationwide chase this month to lure Amazon, offering an aggressive package of incentives to catch the attention of the Seattle-based online giant. Dozens of cities are eager to land such a high-profile employer and the thousands of jobs it is promising.
In his letter to Amazon, Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther highlighted investments made in the Scioto Peninsula in Franklinton, just across the river from Downtown. His letter and another from Columbus Development Director Steve Schoeny mention several neighborhoods, including Franklinton, Easton and the Ohio State University area, though they don’t single out any specific area.
Ginther’s office also released a statement Friday saying the deal “would provide substantial new funding to Columbus City Schools.”
But Will Petrik, a city council candidate with the Yes We Can slate of Democrats, is wary of the deal.
“We continue to see the politicians at City Hall give
away tens of millions in tax handouts,” Petrik said. Some parts of town are so blighted that they deserve tax incentives to be developed, but not thriving high-rent districts such as Easton, Petrik said.
“We need to ask wealthy developers to pay their fair share so we can support investments in schools, transportation, quality of life,” Petrik said.
Details of the city’s offer include Amazon getting a 100 percent, 15-year property-tax abatement at “all sites associated with the project.” Amazon workers’ income would be taxed by the city, but 35 percent of what they pay would be given to Amazon for 15 years, and another 25 percent would go into a transportation fund to better connect potential Amazon sites around Franklinton, Easton, Ohio State “and elsewhere.”
That leaves only 40 percent of income taxes to be used by the city and Columbus City Schools, but they would receive no property taxes from the Amazon properties for 15 years even as they provide services to the new workers and their families.
Michael Cole, a Columbus
Board of Education member up for re-election this November, said the city has offered to give the district three-fourths of the income taxes not being diverted. That works out to the schools receiving 30 percent of the total taxes Amazon workers would pay. “They seem very thoughtful in how the school district could be integrated,” Cole said.
Schoeny would not confirm this offer Friday, but district Treasurer Stan Bahorek said Cole is correct.
“That’s part of what they outlined, yes,” Bahorek said. “I don’t believe that we actually saw an actual number” of how much cash the district would collect under such a deal.
The estimated 50,000 jobs would have an “average” salary of $100,000, but Bahorek said the city offered no details on what the median Amazon worker would be paid. Bahorek couldn’t say whether large executive compensation that could drive up the average might be awarded in ways that the city can’t tax.
The school board has veto power over any propertytax abatement larger than 75 percent and longer than
10 years. “We haven’t taken a position,” said Columbus Board of Education President Gary Baker. “We obviously look forward to hearing more, learning more.”
So is Susan Keeny of the University Area Commission, who said so much of her densely populated part of town is already being developed.
“I honestly don’t know where they’d put something like that, maybe west of the Olentangy (River),” she said. That’s where Ohio State’s 261-acre Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory — the Waterman Farm — is located.
Elwood Rayford, who leads the Northeast Area Commission, which includes the Easton area, said his community has the space. “As long as it’s going to provide jobs for the community, I’m in favor of it,” he said.
To put 50,000 jobs into perspective, Downtown now has 85,248 workers, said Marc Conte, deputy director of the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District. Amazon’s jobs would be a boon to restaurants Downtown or in other neighborhoods, depending on
where Amazon would locate, he said.
“The line out of Cafe Napolitana would get pretty long,” said Conte, referring to a North High Street lunch spot Downtown. He also said the number of other types of support jobs would increase as well.
The 15-year, 100 percent property-tax abatement would save Amazon $456,750 per $1 million of investment in property over the life of the abatement. The 15-year, 35-percent incometax payment to Amazon from its full-time employees would be capped at $50 million annually, and up to $400 million over 15 years.
Columbus City Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson, who is running for re-election and chairs the finance committee, supports the package.
“All my colleagues across the country are trying to get the second headquarters here,” she said. “You have to be competitive to retain and attract jobs in our community for our residents.”