City cancels tax breaks for 3 entities

Columbus City Council dissolved three tax agreements last night with businesses that the city says didn’t come through on 366 new jobs and $10.6 million in investments that they had promised.

Citi Fund Services Ohio, an extension of Citigroup, had promised 300 new banking jobs, 715 retained jobs and an investment of $2.8 million in equipment, machinery and renovations at its Stelzer Road location.

In return, Columbus agreed

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to give back to the company an amount equivalent to 65 percent of the income taxes paid by those 300 new employees for seven years, starting in January 2011.

But Citi Fund didn’t submit annual reports for 2011 through 2013, which was part of the agreement. After asking several times for the reports, the city received a letter from the company “voluntarily requesting” termination of the agreement.

Two other companies — Metro City Ventures, an affiliate of a Columbus real-estate developer, and Southwestern Acquisition, a division of a New Jersey-based educationalservices company— entered into a single agreement for an enterprise zone in June 2010. They planned to create at least 49 new jobs and $1.1 million in property improvements Downtown.

In return, the compa- nies were given an abatement of 75 percent off their property taxes for 10 years.

But after Southwestern abandoned its Columbus project, the council voted to dissolve the agreement.

Columbus-based Tarrier Foods Corp. and Tarrier Holdings also had an enterprise-zone agreement with the city on the West Side, pledging to create 17 positions, retain 33 and invest $6.2 million. In return, the food company was given the same deal: a 75 percent abatement on taxes for 10 years starting in January 2012.

After some back-andforth between the two parties regarding the submission of annual reports, the company called the city to dissolve the agreement on Nov. 14. Also last night, City Council members voted to spend about $675,000 on the revitalization of the Franklinton neighborhood.

Of that money, $75,000 will fund marketing efforts by the Franklinton Board of Trade. This financial support is new in the city’s relationship with Franklinton, said Councilwoman Michelle Mills, who leads council’s development committee.

“We’ve been supportive (of Franklinton) in a lot of other ways,” Mills said. “But yes, this is another way of being supportive.”

The other $600,000 will come from the Northland and Other Acquisitions Fund as grants to residents and businesses in the Franklinton Creative Community District to improve housing.

“This additional money will help continue to push the ball forward in Franklinton in the hopes of creating more economicdevelopment opportunities and job opportunities for those in the Franklinton area, and frankly for the city of Columbus as a whole,” Councilman Zach M. Klein said.

The council also authorized the issuance of bonds that were approved by voters in November, totaling about $485 million for capital projects in water, sewage and road and bridge management, among other things.