Most revenue increases from Valor Acres won’t be realized by schools until 2028

by Melissa Martin

Since the Brecksville-Broadview Heights School District announced plans earlier this year to place a 5.9-mill operating levy on the May 2027 ballot, voters in both communities have asked why additional revenue is needed when the Valor Acres development – a tax increment financing district – is nearing completion.

Prior to construction, residents say, developers and city officials alike indicated that new property tax revenue from the development would be plentiful, and the school district was poised to be one of the mixed-use development’s primary beneficiaries.

Earlier this year, however, district administrators announced the schools are targeting a proposed 5.9-mill operating levy for the May 2027 ballot as a result of rising expenditures that are outpacing flat local revenue growth and minimal state funding increases. With deficit spending expected to begin in the next three years, they say, general fund cash balances are expected to drop below $135,000 by mid-2030.

District Treasurer Craig Yaniglos and Jeremy Buskirk, senior manager for Baker Tilly Advisors, said that even with the revenue the district has received from Valor Acres to date, it hasn’t been enough to offset escalating operational costs, driven largely by rising health care expenses.

Baker Tilly, the BBH schools’ independent financial advisor, conducts annual TIF reviews and pre-economic incentive overviews for the school board, which includes assessing the financial impact of commercial projects like Valor Acres.

During its most recent report, Buskirk said the assessed value of properties in the Valor Acres development increased by about $27 million for the year, resulting in revenue of approximately $775,000 for the district.

Accounting for an uptick in assessed value is a $10 million increase in the development’s mixed-use infrastructure; a $7.3 million increase for the DiGeronimo Corporation’s headquarters; a $7.8 million increase for the luxury, multifamily apartments; and a $2.1 million increase in new residential two-story home builds.

Though property values may have increased, Yaniglos explained that some of the value accrued by the TIFs in tax year 2026 would not be realized by the district until next year’s tax payments are released. The delay in collections means additional revenue the school district stands to receive won’t be realized until 2027 and possibly 2028.

“You can see things coming out of the ground, but there is that lag time and it can be 12 to even potentially 18 months,” Buskirk said.

Under the negotiated terms of the School TIF agreement, Yaniglos said the city of Brecksville makes payments to the school district to ensure it doesn’t lose property tax revenue. Accordingly, the district has received an estimated $353,000 in TIF compensation payments for 2026, with numbers projected to climb higher next year and beyond as build-out of the Sherwin-Williams facility and other businesses fully record onto the tax rolls.

By comparison, Buskirk said, the school district realized a TIF collection of $270,000 from the Valor Acres development in 2025.

As construction progresses and businesses in Valor Acres open their doors, the district is poised to collect additional revenue, Buskirk said. The district anticipates property values for the Sherwin-Williams Research and Development facility will increase another $20 million in 2027, bringing the total market value for the Sherwin-Williams portion of the project to approximately $80 million.

“That full market value will be realized in the 2027 report,” he said, noting the collections will take place in 2028.

Buskirk said the district expects another $84 million property value increase for the mixed-use part of the development over the next several years. The timeline for that, he said, is a little further out, which means the district isn’t likely to realize any additional revenue until late 2028 or 2029.

The same is true for the residential portion of the project, which stands to gain another $16.2 million in value as new homes are built. He said additional revenue wouldn’t be collected until at least 2028.

Buskirk said Baker Tilly will continue to monitor the development and review projections in next year’s annual forecast.

Outside of Valor Acres, Buskirk said some additional TIF properties in Brecksville’s south end are being incentivized to encourage renovations, which could bring in additional revenue. He noted there are also some TIFs in Broadview Heights generating revenue for the district.