Financing regional development through tax sharing: the story of a plan called jedd Available to Purchase

This article describes the implementation of Joint Economic Development Districts between the City of Akron, Ohio and surrounding townships. We examine the capacity of the JEDD structure to make Akron’s boundaries more “elastic” without contentious annexation, explore its capacity to serve as a vehicle for cooperative regional economic development, and assess its utility as mechanism for generating the funds necessary to finance the infrastructure improvements required for economic development. Preliminary indications are that the JEDD mechanism will allow the benefits of economic development to accrue to Akron while it avoids costly and contentious annexations and will generate funds to support economic development, but it does not manifest a cooperative, regional approach to economic development.