The Truth Staff
“The purpose of the Port Authority is to drive economic development for our region,” said Thomas Winston, president and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority on Thursday, August 22, as he led off a press conference at Ironville Terminal designed to explain why this election cycle’s Port Authority’s levy renewal request is important to the economy of the region.
The Port Authority invests in a number of huge projects – investments, said Winston, that have been leveraged to bring in hundreds of missions of dollars worth of funds for capital projects.
Winston noted that the Port Authority’s seaport and airport operations fund 11,000 jobs and have an economic impact of a combined $1.5 billion in the northwest Ohio area.
However, the levy renewal, said the speakers at last week’s press conference, is geared to work for the benefit of local small organizations.
“There is so much good work happening in our community – big and small,” said Robin Whitney, the Port Authority board chair. “There are amazing non profits in our community that are doing good work every day. This levy helps to support economic development initiatives that really help.”
Whitney added that as much as the Port loves the big projects, such as the Cleveland Cliffs project at the site of the Ironville Terminal, “we also love the fact that we can help these smaller projects.”
“We believe in building the community one business at a time,” said Wendy Gramza, president and CEO of the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce which has endorsed the November levy.
The Port’s levy request is a renewal 0.4 mill collected on real estate. The renewal is for five years, first due in the calendar year 2025 and will cost, said Lucas County Commissioner Anita Lopez, about $8 annually per $100,000 of real estate value.
The levy is expected to raise $350,000 annually to help community organizations.
“When I was county auditor, this was one levy no one complained about,” Lopez added.