By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Trustees are scrambling to establish a tax increment financing district at one of the township's Interstate 75 interchanges where a new Wal-Mart Supercenter is expected.

West Chester leaders want to control tax abatements for commercial developers and development standards at I-75 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road. They also fear Butler County will use some tax revenues from the Wal-Mart site to fund a proposed I-75 interchange in Liberty Township.

"They are desperate to get money for the interchange and are reaching down into the heart of West Chester to snatch more revenue for Liberty development," Trustee Catherine Stoker said. "West Chester can't afford to build Liberty Township as well as our own area."

Tax increment financing, or TIF, is a development tool that uses property taxes generated by a development to help pay for infrastructure improvements.

The developer of the Wal-Mart plaza, Neyer Properties Inc. of Evendale, recently asked Butler County for a tax incentive package.

The agreement, which still is under negotiation, must be approved by commissioners and likely would come before them in about two months. But West Chester trustees have scheduled a special meeting at noon Friday to start planning their own TIF district.

In addition to losing money for Liberty's development, West Chester trustees say they are concerned the tax incentive package is set up so that most of the tax revenues from the land will go to develop the Wal-Mart plaza. Little money, if any, will be left over for the other areas of the interchange, they said at Tuesday's trustee meeting.

"I have a hard time saying this is a wise investment," Trustee Jose Alvarez said. "It's a bad tactic, I think, to start allowing wholesale building of retail centers with TIF revenue."

This spring, Wal-Mart officials announced they want to open a supercenter on the parcel by 2005. Last year, plans fell apart for a $100 million lifestyle center with a movie theater there after the township denied approval for the cinema.

The new Wal-Mart would generate about $600,000 a year in sales tax revenue and other non-property-tax revenue for Butler County.

Neyer president Dan Neyer didn't return calls Wednesday. But Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox said the county would step aside if West Chester leaders want to establish the TIF district.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com