Wind farm projects in Paulding County, Ohio, have brought the county extra revenues and a ratings upgrade from Moody’s Investors Service.
The rating agency upgraded the county on Wednesday to Aa3 from A1 on the back of steady growth in its tax base that is partly generated from new wind farms. The upgrade impacts $1.9 million of general obligation unlimited tax debt outstanding.
“Paulding County's economy will likely continue to benefit from wind energy developments, although declining employment poses challenges,” Moody’s said.
The county's $1.4 billion tax base is highly agricultural: 47% of valuation is categorized as agricultural land, and 45% is residential. Reassessment growth of 9% in 2017 and 25% in 2014 reflected appreciation in agricultural valuation as well as the development of new wind farms, according to Moody’s.
The county’s 204 megawatts of installed wind capacity through 174 towers as of May 2018 produces the second-most wind energy in Ohio.
“As far as putting money into these projects, locally, we don’t do any of that, there is no public money being invested in these,” said the county's economic development director, Jerry Zielke.
Zielke said the projects have created a financial windfall for the county since 2013.
“We have seen $700 million of investments in this county since 2013 and that is huge for us because as rural county our tax base has been pretty steady,” Zielke said.
Zielke said that each project represents a roughly $125 million to $200 million investment that generates revenue from payments in lieu of taxes, which are filtered into the county’s general fund. The county has received more than $7 million from its three existing wind farms, EDPR Timber Road II and III and Iberdola Blue Creek, since 2013. It is in line to receive $2.3 million in payments in 2018.
Zielke said that the biggest benefactors of the increased tax revenue have been the county’s schools. The counties three school districts are in line to receive $1.3 million in 2018. “Tax base wise what was once the poorest school district in the county is basically the richest one now because of these turbines and the dollars coming into to them,” Zielke said. “It’s been a win-win.”
Zielke said that the county has one wind project set to come online by the end of this year that will generate additional PILOT revenue in 2020 and another project that will come online in 2019 that will add to 2021 revenues.
He said there are more projects lined up but setback requirements for wind turbines enacted by Ohio lawmakers in 2014 have made had some impact on project development. Those provisions more than doubled the distance that wind turbines must be located away from the nearest homes.
The county is on the Ohio border with Indiana, 25 miles east of Fort Wayne, Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,614.
