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LORDSTOWN -- The village school district, after approving a 100 percent tax break for Clean Energy Future, looks to gain another financial boost from the company if all goes as planned for development of the proposed Trumbull Energy Center along Henn Parkway.
The Lordstown Board of Education this week signed off on the 15-year tax abatement as part of an enterprise zone agreement between the village and the Massachusetts company. In exchange, the school district would receive a base donation of $16.05 million over the duration of the agreement, plus a portion of any net profit tax Clean Energy would pay the village and income tax generated from workers during the three-year construction period.
The agreement still has to be approved by village council and the Trumbull County commissioners.
"This step, the (school) board approving this agreement, was the first step in this process," explained Superintendent Terry Armstrong.
It is a separate agreement from one the village, school district and county signed off on two years ago for the Lordstown Energy Center already under construction.
Mayor Arno Hill said Wednesday the village is reviewing terms of the proposed TEC agreement, but he didn't know whether council would be ready to vote on it at Monday's meeting.
School leaders said the agreement would allow the district to overcome continued decreases in revenue resulting from the state's phase-out of tangible personal property tax reimbursements -- an annual loss of more than $1.5 million a year.
The school district's annual operating budget is about $7.5 million.
"This will give Lordstown Schools the opportunity to continue providing our staff, students and school families the necessary resources required for the quality educational opportunities expected at Lordstown Schools while maintaining some of the lowest property taxes in the Mahoning Valley," according to a written statement from the school board.
Clean Energy is looking to construct the second power plant next to its LEC at the Lordstown Industrial Park.
Bill Siderewicz, Clean Energy president, said the second $900 million project would provide more than $10 billion in benefits to the state and generate construction jobs for some 800 union workers.
The Ohio Power Siting Board, which approved the company's plans for the LEC nearly two years ago, must OK plans for the second electric generating facility before construction can begin.
Siderewicz has described the two projects as "twin" facilities, each designed to do the same job and put out the same amount of energy. Together, they are expected to meet the needs of some 1.7 million customers.
As part of the base donation for the TEC project, Clean Energy would give the school district an initial $800,000 when the company breaks ground and, after operations start, $800,000 annually through the fifth year of the pact. The school district would receive slightly more than $1 million annually years six to 10 and $1.2 million annually years 11 to 15.
The first $500,000 generated by the net profit tax would go to the village, with anything in excess of that to be split equally with the schools once the plant is operating. Armstrong said early projections show the school district's portion could be between $500,000 and $750,000 a year. The schools could also receive about $400,000 in income tax from workers during construction.
The district waived its right to receive income tax from the LEC construction. Instead, the company entered into a tax donation agreement that gives the district $1 million a year the first five years, $1.25 million a year the second five years and $1.5 million a year in each of the final five years once operations start. Clean Energy also is giving the schools $500,000 each year during the LEC construction. The district already has received two of those payments.
vshank@tribtoday.com