North Canton Community Improvement Corporati
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North Canton's Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) is established under Ohio Revised Code for the purpose of advancing, encouraging, and promoting the industrial, economic, commercial, and civic development of North Canton. The CIC has great latitude in pursuing those goals, including low interest loans, land acquisition and assemblage, and land banking. Have questions, comments or suggestions about North Canton's CIC? What is a Community Improvement Corporation (CIC)? A Community Improvement Corporation is a not for profit corporation created by the State of Ohio Legislature for the purpose of advancing, encouraging, and promoting the industrial, economic, commercial, and civic development of a community or area. The State of Ohio Legislature enacted the ability to form a CIC over forty (40) years ago, and there are over two hundred thirty-five (235) CIC’s active statewide. What does the CIC plan to do with the funding? The primary purpose for the funding is to help North Canton’s economic development by creating or retaining jobs. The primary way the CIC anticipates creating or retaining jobs is to assemble, improve, and sell commercial property to a business that will enhance our Ohio community and provide jobs. Without that ability, important parcels (such as Spitzer’s) could remain vacant or be developed in a manner that is below the highest and best use. For example, instead of a commercial/office complex, Spitzer’s could become simply a used car lot. But ultimately any funding, when used, is expected to come back to the CIC. The funding will be “revolving”. It is an investment in North Canton’s economic future. CIC funding is also important to help businesses obtain some State economic development assistance, as some State economic development programs require local North Canton community participation. What is a CIC able to do? An Ohio Community Improvement Corporation has many potential powers established by the Ohio Revised Code, including the ability to borrow money for any purpose of the corporation; to make loans, to purchase, receive, hold, lease or otherwise acquire and to sell, convey, transfer, lease, sublease, or otherwise dispose of real and personal property; to acquire the good will, business, rights, real and personal property, and other assets of any persons, firms, partnerships, corporations, joint stock companies, associations, or trusts; to acquire improved or unimproved real estate for the purpose of constructing industrial plants or other business establishments thereon or for the purpose of disposing of such real estate to others in whole or in part for the construction of industrial plants or other business establishments; andto serve as an agent for grant applications and for the administration of grants; to do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers especially created in Chapter 1724 of the Revised Code. The powers were established by the State Legislature.North Canton CIC’s adopted plan has specific authority established for the CIC. How is North Canton’s CIC configured? North Canton’s CIC has eight (8) members. The members are the Mayor, the President of Council, the Chairperson of Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee, the North Canton Administrator, the North Canton Finance Director, one (1) member appointed by Council and two (2) members appointed by the Mayor. Is the CIC accountable? Yes, the North Canton CIC is accountable. It is/was created by virtue of Ohio Revised Code. It is/will be audited by the State Auditor annually. The CIC has eight (8) members. To reiterate, City Council has two (2) members on the CIC and appoints two (2) more. The Mayor is on the CIC and appoints two (2) more. The Director of Administrator, who is appointed by the Mayor, and confirmed by City Council is a member of the CIC. The voters and City Council have control and accountability. All votes by the CIC must be in public meetings and public records are maintained. The only thing that is NOT public, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 1724.11, are financial and proprietary information submitted on behalf of a business in connection with the relocation, location, expansion, improvement, or preservation of a business. That just makes sense. Would you apply for a bank loan if all your financial and personal history were made public? Of course not. The same can be said for businesses. If a business with one hundred (100) jobs paying Sixty Thousand ($60,000) each per year wanted to locate in North Canton and went to Council for a loan, all their financial and business records submitted would become public record. With a CIC, their records can remain confidential, while the loan and vote by the CIC would still be public. Without a CIC in North Canton, the business could always go to Canton, Jackson Township, Massillon, Green, or Stark County who already have CIC’s and can maintain confidentiality of their business records. How can the North Canton CIC take action? Any action of the North Canton CIC requires a vote of at least five (5) members of the CIC. (NOT just a simple majority of those present). Requiring five (5) votes helps ensure that any actions taken by the CIC have solid support. Why are there eight (8) members of CIC? The number of North Canton CIC members is eight (8) to strike a balance between North Canton’s executive branch (Mayor) with four (4) members/appointees and Council with four (4) members/appointees. Combined with the requirement of five (5) votes to take action, the CIC must have cooperation and consensus of both the executive and legislative branches of North Canton Government, just as the legislation to fund the CIC did. Why is the CIC being “activated” now? There is a broad based support to “activate” North Canton’s CIC now. The Mayor and Council see the need to have an active CIC as a tool to promote economic development and to be proactive in North Canton’s economic future. The ability to be proactive is especially important with the uncertainty surrounding the Hoover Company and other factors such as Spitzer’s moving from Main Street. Rather than be passive and simply wait for things to happen, an active funded CIC can be a valuable tool to be proactive and help shape and react quickly to circumstances and North Canton's economic future. The North Canton Chamber of Commerce, North Canton Talk About Potential (TAP), and the Imagine North Canton Citizens Group all recommended and supported legislation to fund North Canton’s CIC. Many came to Council in support of funding North Canton’s CIC, and many spoke in support as well. Why fund the Communty Improvement Corporation for $1.5 million? Council has funded the CIC at $100,000 per year for fifteen (15) years, with an ability for the CIC to “borrow” against the total $1.5 million so that the CIC can quickly react on economic development opportunities. The funding of the North Canton CIC does NOT reduce the unappropriated general fund balance. Council has established a mechanism so that the unappropriated balance or carryover will be unaffected. Will the CIC use its funding for other purposes? It is possible that the North Canton CIC could find other methods to help create/retain jobs and promote economic development. However, the primary purpose of the CIC is to utilize the funds in a REVOLVING FUND where funds will be utilized and then recouped by the CIC. Outright grants are not an anticipated purpose for CIC funds. Are other Ohio Communty Improvement Corporation ’s funded with income tax dollars? YES. An example is Canton purchased the former Eppy’s facility with income tax dollars (capital improvement), and gave the property to the CIC. The CIC then sold portions of the total to Environmental Chemical Corp. (26 jobs) and another for the Veteran’s Administration Clinic (85-90 jobs). Virtually all the initial expenditure (donation) was recouped, with the CIC still holding on to substantial property, including the Enterprise Rental Car facility which provides monthly lease income to the CIC. Does the funding of the CIC jeopardize the general fund carryover of the City? No. Taxpayer reserves are slightly less than a few years ago, but virtually unchanged from 1998-99 before North Canton purchased Arrowhead Country Club, made repayments to Maytag for overpaid income tax, and proceeded with many street improvement projects to enhance our neighborhoods and property values. In fact, the reserves are at the same level as 1998-99. The funding for the CIC is to be paid over 15 years, $100,000 per year, unless the CIC has a project that requires it to borrow against the total funds. The current estimated unencumbered reserves represent over one half of the yearly budget. To put that in perspective, if your household budget was $60,000 and you were in the same financial condition as the City of North Canton you would have $35,750 in the bank. Rather than leave all the money in the bank, North Canton is taking less than 2% of its reserves annually to fund the CIC to be proactive in economic development. (For comparison, with your $35,750 in the bank, you would only use $572 of it to invest). The funding to the CIC isn’t lost, it will be reinvested in our community to create or retain jobs. Is there an economic development plan? The North Canton CIC has a plan adopted in 1980 for economic development. In the past year, many steps have been taken to shape and guide North Canton’s economic development direction. Imagine North Canton, conducted by Walsh University, involved dozens of North Canton citizens via appreciative inquiry to develop goals for economic development as well as the overall community. A presentation of their results was made to the City recently. The City of North Canton has been developing promotional materials for use in attracting NEW businesses and residents. Additionally, a search is currently underway for a full-time Economic Development Director, who will be charged with pulling together what has been done and guiding North Canton’s Economic Development efforts forward. New! The 2005 Financial Statements for the North Canton Community Improvement Corporation are now availabe. Click here.
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