County provides update on tax billing for New Market Solar project

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades and county auditor Alex Butler gave an update on a previous invoice for a solar project’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) during the Wednesday, June 14 commission meeting.

The update came almost three months after the invoice for New Market Solar was issued and nearly two months after it had been listed as due for payment by the developers. According to Daniels, it is now the county’s understanding that the project should be subject to public utilities tax, not the PILOT payments, as the project is still not officially complete.

As previously reported, commissioners voted to issue the first PILOT invoice for the New Market Solar project March 22. Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve sending the letter and invoice to Liberty I Renewables - Hecate Energy for the first “service payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), including the additional annual service payment,” the letter said.

The New Market Solar project is “being permitted and constructed in two phases (35MW and 65 MW),” according to newmarketsolar.com. “Liberty acquired the 100 MW Project for Hecate Energy through a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (“MIPA”). Hecate Energy had developed and submitted a PJM queue position for 400 MW, which also included a 300 MW (non-Liberty Project) currently under development by D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (“DESRI”), which they name Highland Solar.”

According to the commissioners’ letter in March, 24 MW of the project in Clay and Whiteoak townships were listed as operational. Britton said Wednesday that the Ohio Power Siting Board actually had the project “listed as operational since” March 30, 2022.

“As a result, Highland County intends to invoice,” commissioners wrote. “A total of $9,000 for each MW of nameplate capacity (100 MW) of the alternative energy facility is to be invoiced. Therefore, enclosed with this letter you will find the 2022 PILOT payment invoice.”

The first half-year payment of $450,000 was due April 20, according to the invoice. During the week of April 26, correspondence listed on the commissioners’ agenda indicated that they did not “receive a payment or response” from the first invoice. Commissioners wrote to developers to seek “assistance with making sure this invoice gets to the right folks for further processing,” according to an email sent April 21.

As of Wednesday, Daniels said they still haven’t “heard anything back” from the developers, but they are now working with the OPSB and the Ohio Department of Development to seek further information. Due to delays with getting the solar panels, the project is only “30-percent complete,” he said.

“I did speak to the Power Siting Board to get a ruling,” Daniels said. “The [Ohio Public Utilities Commission] website lists them as an active project, and so that was the reason that we decided to send them a bill for the PILOT.

“It’s our understanding now that they are indicating that they're 30-percent complete, and until they actually end up being complete, then they are responsible to pay the public utilities tax on those parcels.”

Daniels said that now Butler is working with the ODOD to assess the proper taxes on the parcels.

“Those parcels need to be taken out of CAUV [Current Agricultural Use Value] and entered into that public utilities taxing scheme, or taxing program,” Daniels said. “Once the contractor ends up submitting a notice of completion, that's when the Department of Development will then approve that PILOT for billing and payment.”

Butler and Daniels both spoke about the “learning curve” involved, as this is the first of several solar projects in the county.

“There is a learning curve for all of us because it's the first time that the county has dealt with any projects like this,” Butler said. “However, it is a priority of the auditor's office and the commissioner's office to keep an eye to tax appropriately and timely. There may be times where we're searching for information or calling Columbus to get details, but it is on our radar, and we want to make sure we're doing the right thing generating the tax revenue that we're supposed to.”

Daniels added that he thinks the state, too, is “finding their way through some of these projects.”

“A lot of times we will call them, and it will be weeks before we get answers,” he said. “There can be kind of a round robin to get the information back that we would like to have that helps us, helps the auditor and helps everybody get that through.

“One of the reasons that we talked about the PILOT to begin with was to push the conversation,” Daniels added later. “Then everybody says, ‘OK, I’ve got to start making decisions,’ and that's when we get information back from Columbus.”

In other discussion:

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to accept the recommendation of the county’s recycling coordinator, Highland County Community Action Organization deputy director Tara Campbell, to award the 2023 Recycling and Litter Management Revolving Fund Grants.  

The grants are open to local municipalities, townships, colleges, boards of education, park districts, health districts and nonprofits to be used for recycling and litter cleanup and/or prevention projects.

Campbell was unable to attend the meeting but wrote commissioners a letter explaining the submissions exceeded the usual $4,500 set-aside by $674.50, but “we have a little extra in the budget we can use” to make up the difference, she said.

The board agreed to award the grants as follows: Village of Highland, $1,174.50; Village of Leesburg, $2,000; and Village of Greenfield, $2,000.

“That's a great program,” Britton said. “It just shows that those communities are really into county recycling and trying to do the right thing.”

• Britton shared updates on several ongoing county building projects.

According to Britton and Daniels, the county is now accepting bids for their planned records storage facility on Beech Street in Hillsboro, with a bid opening scheduled for July 12.

Talks have been ongoing for over a year, as commissioners voted in May 2022 to enter a contract with McCarty Associates, LLC for engineering and architecture design services for the building. The commission also passed a resolution in May 2022 to purchase a 0.236 acre lot for construction of the property, which will be used to alleviate some of the storage issues seen in all county buildings.

“We'll be looking forward to seeing how that turns out,” Britton said.

A bid opening for a different planned new building, the Ohio State University Extension’s new location at the fairgrounds, was originally scheduled to be held June 14 but was postponed until June 28 due to “a delay” with the engineering firm overseeing the project.

However, Britton said the other new building at the fairgrounds — a joint project between the county and the Highland County Fair Board — is “ahead of schedule” and nearing completion.

The $1.2 million, 125’x225’x15’ steel livestock building is replacing the former dairy, hog and sheep barns at the Highland County Fairgrounds. According to county ARPA funding coordinator Nicole Oberrecht, the contract approved last fall stipulated a substantial completion date of July 1 and final completion of Aug. 1, but Britton said Wednesday that the building is “ahead of schedule.”

“The new barn is coming right along,” he said. “They're now working on electric. They’re going to be way ahead of their schedule. I heard the other day that they had ordered some new pens for that, so they're getting ready for the fair already.

“The building has really turned out really nice, and I think the community and the Fair Board are very pleased.”

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to enter two separate contracts related to health and insurance insurance.

Commissioners approved their Medical Mutual renewal rates for a one-year contract, effective Aug. 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024, as well as their Superior Dental Care renewal rates for the same time period.

According to county Human Resources director Amy Bradley, the Medical Mutual contract is a Preferred Provider Organization plan with an increase of approximately 8.25 percent. Britton said the dental insurance renewal was unchanged from their previous contract.

In April, Dave Brown of the county’s health insurance broker Brown/Raybourn had told commissioners that he didn’t “think there’s any doubt there’ll be some sort of increase” in their contract. The county’s previous two-year plan had included a four-percent reduction each year.

• Commissioners agreed to submit a letter of support on behalf of the Highland County Homeless Shelter, “to help support their grant documentation,” according to Britton.

• Britton reminded the community that Rick Williams Auction Co. is conducting an auction June 24 at 10 a.m. at the Highland County Justice Center, on behalf of the commissioners’ office and Highland County Sheriff’s Office.

The sale will include several trucks, vans and cars; a gun; tools; office supplies; and other miscellaneous items.  

• Throughout the morning and early afternoon, commissioners held separate budget meetings with heads of several different departments, including the Emergency Management Agency, Recorder’s Office, Airport and Treasurer’s Office.

“They’re just reviews of line items and budgets that they turned in for next year,” Britton said.

Commissioners also made the following approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A budget modification within 2110 Children Services Retention Fund in the amount of $15,000.

• A request from Juvenile Court for a budget modification within the 2075 Youth Services account from Buildings and Other Structures to Other Expense in the amount of $100.

• A request from Probation for a budget modification within the 2690 PSI Writing Program FY22 account in the amount of $2,413.

• A request from Probation for a budget modification within the 2680 Prosecutorial Division FY18 in the amount of $1,450.

• A resolution to authorize an appropriation of funds in the amount of $8,678 as participating local funds for the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission for fiscal year beginning Jan. 1, 2024.

• A memorandum of understanding for Local Workforce Area 7 for PY2024-25 among commissioners, Highland County Community Action Association and the Greater Ohio Workforce Board.

• A customer service agreement with Rumpke of Ohio for trash service at the Highland County Dog Pound.

• A contract with Federal Signal Corporation for the Village of Greenfield’s tornado siren Community Development Block Grant project.