Yorktown school board seeks recurring TIF commitment; county commission declines request as presented

Yorktown Community Schools representatives asked the Delaware County Redevelopment Commission on July 9 for a multi-year, county-level commitment to provide annual TIF support aimed at safety, accessibility and energy-efficiency projects.

Ryan Kelly, president of the Yorktown school board, said the district seeks flexibility to align county funding with its five-year strategic plan and avoid relying on a referendum. He said the district is completing a five-year strategic plan and that priorities would be safety, accessibility and energy efficiencies.

Commissioners expressed concern about locking future boards into decade-long commitments and urged the school district to present project-specific requests so the commission can evaluate concrete scopes, costs and public benefits. Staff reminded the body that state law limits regular allocations to education from a given TIF district to 15%, a constraint commissioners noted would affect any long-term commitment. After discussion a motion was made and seconded to deny the request as presented; the motion passed by roll call.

Commissioners encouraged Yorktown to return with one or a small set of defined projects or a shorter-term agreement that provides the commission reviewable guardrails for how the funds would be used.