Columbus City Council approved a $150,000 contract with HR&A Advisors “to analyze its tax-incentive offerings and to potentially offer suggestions for changes,” The Columbus Dispatch reports. HR&A recently completed a similar study for Cincinnati (see our June 16, 2016 blog post). Columbus City Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown said, “[i]t’s a priority to invest tax dollars in a way that leverages smart and sustainable growth,” in reference to the contract. HR&A’s analysis will study Columbus’s competitiveness with other cities, “how incentives affect development patterns” and “whether the city should be offering different types of incentives,” according to the article. Columbus “generally uses property-tax abatements and tax-incentive-financing districts, along with income-tax credits, to entice commercial development,” according to Steve Schoeny, the city’s economic-development director. Schoeny “said the analysis will tell the city more about what ‘levers to pull’ to maximize what it is getting out of its incentives.”
Columbus will spend $150,000 to study best use of tax incentives for economic development
