Port Authority Agreement Cancelled

Com­mis­sion­ers from four local coun­ties — Defi­ance, Ful­ton, Henry and Pauld­ing — have decided to can­cel their coop­er­a­tive agree­ment with the Regional Port Author­ity of North­west Ohio.

The local entity was cre­ated in 2008 by com­mis­sion­ers from all those coun­ties as a way to lever­age fund­ing for eco­nomic devel­op­ment projects. Port author­i­ties have the abil­ity to own and lease land as well as bor­row money, and don’t have to pay Ohio state sales tax.

The prob­lem now is that the Regional Port Author­ity of North­west Ohio has no loan reserves, which makes oper­a­tion all but impos­si­ble.

Now, the local coun­ties have decided to asso­ciate them­selves with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Author­ity, which has been oper­at­ing for decades and has a strong reserve fund. Local lead­ers say the asso­ci­a­tion will now make it eas­ier to sell bonds in the pub­lic market.