A tool created to make otherwise impossible development possible is being turned into a way for one of Cuyahoga County’s wealthiest communities to keep tax money from the county — even though the development is already being built without need of the tool.
That’s how the hosts of Today in Ohio described Orange Village’s proposed tax increment financing arrangement for The Canyons, an 82-acre development. They said the plan is less an economic-development incentive than a municipal money grab that could undermine the shared tax base supporting county services.
“This is not what anybody had in mind when tax increment financing districts were created,” Chris Quinn said…