Community Reinvestment Area

The City of Alliance is creating a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA). Maybe you read about it in The Review. And maybe you said to yourself, so what? What does that do for me? Well, this is one thing a lot of us can benefit from.

A Community Reinvestment Area is a designation the State of Ohio came up with a few years ago. It is a method used to encourage residents and businesses to spend some money fixing up their properties without being penalized by higher property taxes. It is also a method to attract new business to empty storefronts since they won’t have to pay higher taxes on the improvements made to the building.

This is how it works. First you need to find out if you are in the target area. Basically, the CRA covers most of the First and Second Wards, a small part of the Third Ward, all of east and west State Street, and the new Industrial Park area. To find out you’re in the CRA, you can get a map from the Planning and Development Department, located in the administration building at 504 E. Main St. You can also get an application for the program while you’re there.

You will need to keep documentation of how much you spend on your improvements because for single family homes and duplexes, those improvements must be over $2,500 to be eligible for the program. When you get your property taxes, look and see how much your house went up in value after the improvements were made. That’s the part of your taxes the city will be able to abate for ten years. To "abate" means to lower, lessen, decrease or reduce. The city will have the ability to give you a break on your property taxes for fixing up your house.

Now for those owning properties with more than two units, the deal is even better. If you spend over $5,000 on a property that has more than two units, you will be eligible for abatement on the increased value for twelve years. Remember, only those making application and doing it "by the book" may qualify for approval and the abatement. You will have to keep proper documentation and complete the application. You can’t expect the city to give you a tax break if you can’t prove you spent the money on the house and don’t fill out an application. Those owners who are participating in the city’s housing rehab low interest loan program are also eligible for the CRA program.

Please keep in mind that new construction in commercial or residential areas is not eligible for the abatement. The purpose of the program is to fix up existing houses and businesses. This is also an attempt by the city to become more attractive to a business which may be shopping for a location. Using this method, we can offer more incentives for business to locate in an existing building.

Those commercial and industrial businesses wishing to obtain more information about this program should contact Vince Marion, the city’s Director of Planning and Development at 330-829-2235. The procedure for those folks is slightly different but no less beneficial. As a matter of fact, anyone with questions should contact Vince Marion. There is a pre-approval process, so call and find out what you need to do.