The city of Cincinnati has taken steps to reclaim some of the tax breaks General Electric received for building — but never filling — a 12-story office tower at The Banks.
In fact, City Manager Sheryl Long took the first step in June — four months before GE announced it would vacate the property by early next year.
Long sent a notice of default to Matthew Griggs, global facilities leader for GE Aviation, saying the company violated two tax incentive agreements by failing to maintain 1,800 jobs and $140 million in annual payroll at 191 Rosa Parks Street.
“These failures are of significant concern to the city,” Long wrote. “If GE fails to respond timely and accordingly, the city may exercise its rights under the agreements including but not limited to termination of the agreements and requiring repayment of foregone taxes.”
It’s one of two surprising twists that the WCPO 9 I-Team discovered as it tried to unravel the impact of GE’s departure from The Banks. Public records from the state of Ohio show GE modified its state agreement for tax credits in 2017 to reduce the number of jobs it was required to maintain at The Banks. Those changes were approved by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority in December 2017 but weren’t publicly disclosed until now.
