June 16, 2011
Council OKs incentives, mulls over rezoning By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
A new medical practice will bring 34 jobs to Dublin. Dublin City Council on June 13 approved an economic development agreement with Pain Care Specialists, which currently has locations in Hilliard and Westerville.
The medical practice will consolidate its two practices for an office at 6397 Emerald Parkway, economic development administrator Colleen Gilger said. The incentives for moving the medical practice to Dublin include a $15,000 location grant and a five-year, 20-percent performance incentive on income-tax withholdings collected by the city. If the business meets its five annual perform-
ance targets, it could qualify for a sixth performance payment of $25,000. For the incentives, Pain Care Specialists must create 34 jobs in Dublin by the end of 2014. According to the memo to city council, the total incentive package is capped at $165,000, and the city anticipates receipt of $525,000 in income-tax withholdings during the term.
Council members also heard several rezoning proposals for the Central Ohio Innovation Corridor. An ordinance to rezone 105 parcels around Shier Rings Road, between Avery Road and Interstate 270, to technology flex district zoning was heard for the first time. The parcels, which make up about 754 acres, currently are zoned for restricted
suburban residential district, suburban office and institutional district, restricted industrial district, limited industrial district, planned commerce district and planned unit development. Planner Carson Combs said the rezoning comes from work done over the past year on the COIC. He said the techSee CITY COUNCIL, page A3
State budget
CAREGIVER CONGRATULATIONS
Changes mean district’s cuts not as deep By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Larra Thomas, a thyroid-cancer survivor, high fives her son, 16-year-old Drake, at the end of the caregiver lap of the Relay For Life on June 11 at Dublin Coffman High School. Drake is one of the Dublin Youth Ambassadors at Coffman.
Recession-proof
Strong business, income base keeps Dublin afloat By JENNIFER NOBLIT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series on how the city of Dublin has weathered the recession. An ongoing series on the effects the recession has had on people and organizations in Dublin will follow. ic development agreement to build a new headquarters in Dublin for an estimated Rick Malir owns one of the more than $49,750 in incentives. 2,800 businesses in Dublin. “The city was willing to work with us The City Barbeque co-founder and and put together a package that kept us president recently received an econom- here,” Malir said. “It certainly helped be-
cause we were looking at property in other municipalities. It definitely helped to swing us to stay in this ZIP code.” In turn, Dublin expects to see $161,500 in income-tax withholdings during the five-year agreement. City Barbeque is one of many companies contributing to Dublin’s largest source of funding: income-tax revenue. The city expects to generate $65.9 million in income-tax revenue this year. According to the 2011 city budget, income-tax revenues “are estimated to comprise 87 percent of our general-fund op-
erating revenues … and 79 percent of all operating revenues.” Although Dublin saw its income-tax revenues fall for the first time during the recession, it is on the uptick again, city officials say. After the first decline in income-tax revenue in 2009, it rebounded in 2010 with a 4.46-percent increase over 2009 rates. Dublin reported a $1.2 million (7.4percent) increase in income-tax revenues See STRONG BUSINESS, page A6
District support staff to forgo part of raise By JENNIFER NOBLIT
cent raises over the next two tle over $200,000 over the two years,” Osborne said. “They’ll be splitting that over “Why we voted to do it that the next two years,” treasurer way was that we wanted to parStephen Osborne said. ticipate and be part of the Dublin The concessions from custo- team in giving back to the disdians, groundskeepers, mainte- trict because of the state budgnance workers and cooks are ex- et decrease,” union president pected to save the district a “lit- Howard French said. “We
ThisWeek Community Newspapers years.
Another group of Dublin City Schools employees will concede a portion of scheduled raises. Members of the Dublin Support Association union voted recently to forgo their 1.25-per-
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thought we would take the same amount the administration had done and match that 1.25-percent raise that would take effect in July 2011. In order to have some type of raise, we split it over two years.” According to French, a worker who makes $10 per hour Cheryl is one of many cats up for adoption at the Cat Welfare Association. On Tuesday, June 21, the association will hold its Summer Solstice Adoption Extravaganza, which will feature food and special adoption rates. For information on adopting Cheryl or any of the cats, visit catwelfareohio.com. Watch a video of Cheryl at ThisWeekNews.com.
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would have received a 12.5-cent raise with the 1.25-percent raise. With the new concessions, the worker would instead receive a 6.25-cent raise. “The cost of everything is going up, but people wanted to See GIVE BACK, page A2
The state budget passed the Senate last week with a little relief for Dublin City Schools, but changes could come again in committee. The Dublin school district initially was set to lose $14.5 million in funding after Gov. John Kasich announced his plan for the two-year budget that was facing an $8 billion shortfall. The funding loss was decreased to $13.7 million after the budget passed through the House of Representatives. Thanks to amendments from the Senate, the district is looking at a restoration of $2.9 million foundation funding. The district was bracing for a 10-percent reduction in state foundation funding but instead saw an 18-percent cut in the first version of the budget. The district will get $13 million in foundation funding from the state this year, district treasurer Stephen Osborne said. The foundation funding was going to be cut by $2.1 million next year and an additional $800,000 in 2013, but Senate changes restored that funding. “In foundation funding, it looks like we benefit from $2.9 million over two years. That’s the Senate’s version,” Osborne said. “Once it passes the Senate, it has to go to joint committee. ... The Senate has moved in the right direction for our district. We’ll see how it shakes out.” “I’m please to see foundation money restored,” Superintendent David Axner said. “I appreciate the fact that they got that done, but it still isn’t perfect in regards to tangible-personal-propertytax (reimbursements).” The district will get $10.1 million this year from reimbursements laid out in House Bill 66. See DISTRICT, page A2
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