WHEELING, W.Va. — Wheeling City Council introduced an ordinance Tuesday night that would transfer $575,000 in tax increment financing funds tied to the waterfront hotel project to the Ohio Valley Area Development Corporation.
Council conducted the first reading of the ordinance, which would move the money from TIF funds. The hotel project’s original $60 million budget has already been fully funded, but Mayor Denny Magruder said the transfer is not simply additional money being handed over.
“The TIF funds really mean that we take a base value of a neighborhood, the TIF district has a base-value and because of new construction like the hotel, as that property value increases so does the taxes and that increment that tax increment comes back to the city and allows us to fund,” Magruder said. “So, quite honestly, what we’re doing is advancing money that we’ll get on the back end of this project.”
Because it was the first reading, no motions were made Tuesday night to approve the transfer. Magruder said he and council have discussed the issue and expect the transfer to move quickly.
“We discussed this,” he said. “Obviously, we knew what was going on as they built the capital stack. We knew that we had committed five million to funds, so I’d anticipate a positive vote next council meeting.”
Magruder also outlined a developing timeline for the hotel project, saying demolition could begin soon.
“You’re going to see demolition very soon, probably within a month,” he said. “Hopefully, demolition will be completed about the first of the year, so in December, first of January. And then we look for a late winter, early spring groundbreaking with completion of the project 18 to 20 months after that.”
