Westerville Economic Development is your one-stop shop for all your economic development needs, whether you have questions for the City, need help identifying available real estate in the community or would like to make contact with the resources and officials at Columbus 2020 and JobsOhio. We look forward to working with you.

Tax Incentives

Property Tax Abatement - Reduces the structural property taxes on new construction or significant rehabilitation of existing structures in designated Community Reinvestment Areas.

Income Tax Offset - Businesses adding jobs may be eligible to receive an annual payment from payroll taxes the new employees pay to the City of Westerville.

TIFs (Tax Increment Financing) - TIF is a tax diversion program and not a tax abatement program.

• The City has 10 active TIF districts.
• By creating those 10 TIFs, the City has seen the market value in the TIF districts of a combined $515,947,187.

CRAs (Community Reinvestment Areas) - This is a tax abatement program. It abates the property taxes on NEW investment or the improvement value. No investment, nothing to abate. The City of Westerville cannot abate existing taxes, so there is nothing taken away.

• There are 17 abated properties in the City.
• The combined value of investment on those 17 properties is $112,064,343. That's an increase in the market value because of the investment.
• A total of 3,265 jobs have been created at those 17 sites.
• Those jobs produced $5,922,221 of income tax in 2022.
• Every dollar of property tax foregone has produced $2.36 of income tax.
• The City also paid the schools $1,040,839 per compensation agreements.

Access to Capital

Forgivable Loan - Interest-free loans for relocation and other expenses for companies bringing new jobs to the community. Loans may be forgiven after five years if the business remains in Westerville and payroll requirements are met.

Uptown Improvement Program (formerly the Uptown Façade Improvement Program) - Matching grant used to offset up to 50% of costs associated with the renovation or restoration of building exteriors in the Uptown District. Applications for this program are accepted year-round. 

• Brochure
• Guidelines
• Application

businessWISE - Provides rebates for eligible energy efficiency and conservation projects installed by commercial and industrial customers. Learn more here!

Competitive Advantage

WeConnect Data Center - The WeConnect Data Center helps businesses reduce capital and operating costs. IT infrastructure includes a high-speed fiber network connected to a 16,000 square foot data center offering a suite of colocation-to-cloud solutions.

Municipal Utilities - City-owned and operated electric, fiber and water utilities provide businesses with low utility costs, faster response times and improved reliability.

Contact

Rachel Ray
Economic Development Director
City of Westerville
Phone: (614) 901-6409
Rachel.Ray@westerville.org

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