The three entities are working to form the JEDD, which would allow Newark to collect an income tax on 520 acres in Pataskala that Pataskala officials hope would be developed into a warehouse/manufacturing district. Pataskala does not currently collect an income tax, so the city must work through a JEDD to receive income-tax revenues from the area.

Pataskala City Council considered legislation Nov. 2 to approve a JEDD agreement. Council only heard first reading, though, and the city's laws require two more readings at subsequent meetings before the legislation could be approved.

During the meeting, Pataskala Mayor Steve Butcher said the city cannot begin collecting any income taxes from the site until the JEDD is finalized. He mentioned that workers building a road through the site could be providing tax revenue to the city if an agreement already were in place.

When the ordinance came before council, council president Barbara Triplett suggested passing the legislation as an emergency.

Councilman Bernard Brush voted against the emergency clause. With two members absent, the clause failed to receive the five votes needed to pass.

Brush said after the meeting that the legislation does not need to be passed as an emergency and he has questions that need to be answered before the legislation is passed. He mentioned the Nov. 3 election, which included Issue 7, an income tax for Pataskala.

Issue 7 failed, according to the Licking County Board of Elections' unofficial counts.

Both Harrison Township and Newark also have to pass legislation approving the JEDD before it could be put in place.

Dennis Schwallie, bond counsel for Pataskala, said each entity must pass an ordinance or resolution for the collective to approve the actual agreement. The legislation for the other two entities had been given to Pataskala city administrator Timothy Boland, who is distributing the information to Newark and Harrison Township.

Schwallie said after the actual agreements are approved by each of the three entities, the Licking County commissioners have to give their approval. If commissioners approve, the entities would have to sign the agreement, making it official.

After the signing, Schwallie said, the agreement would take effect within 30 days.

Boland said he thinks all of the necessary legislation will be in place before the end of 2009.

If the agreement is approved, Newark will collect a 1.75-percent income tax from the site and share the revenues with Pataskala and Harrison Township. The property included in the JEDD is 520 acres between Broad Street and Mink Road, north of U.S. Route 40.

Also on Nov. 2, Pataskala tried to pass emergency legislation that would have amended another revenue-sharing agreement for the same property. The legislation would have amended a tax-increment-financing (TIF) agreement for the property to add seven acres to the 513 acres already included in the TIF. Through a TIF, taxes on new development are diverted to pay for infrastructure.

The same emergency clause was proposed for that legislation. Brush voted against that as well, so it failed to pass.

Brush said he is concerned about the TIF timeline, which, he said, could begin with passage of the legislation. For every year that no development on the site occurs, Brush said, the city would lose its ability to use the TIF revenues for infrastructure costs.

During the Nov. 2 meeting, Brush asked Schwallie when the timeline would begin if the TIF were approved yet this year.

Schwallie said he interprets the statute as meaning the TIF timeline begins when development occurs on the property, not when the TIF is approved.

"We will not file for a TIF on the property until development is imminent," Schwallie said.

TIFs typically are spread out over 15 to 30 years.