Aurora City Council approves 12-year tax abatement for Piping Rock Health Products

Aurora City Council on Oct. 28 approved a 12-year, 100% property tax abatement for Piping Rock Health Products LLC. Documents submitted to the city indicate that in 2026, the company plans to add 20 new jobs at its Aurora site, which already has 260 employees. The company maintains a packaging and warehouse facility at the property and plans to add on to one structure and build another.

The new employees would add $1.16 million to the company’s payroll. Aurora’s income tax rate is 2%, so even with the tax abatement, the city will realize about $23,200 in increased revenue, Payroll Administrator Marcy Janus said.

Council also inked a $704,885 contract with MKSK Inc. to provide master planning services for a park at the city’s newly acquired Geauga Lake property, and a $7,000 agreement with Osborn Engineering to provide additional engineering consulting services for the design of a pedestrian bridge across the Paddock River Preserve Ravine.

City leaders also approved $34,074 for the Aurora Police Department to purchase 18 automated external defibrillators from Stryker Corp., a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based medical technologies company.

The necessary funds will be drawn from the city’s share of the opioid settlement fund. According to a Sept. 11 memo council received, APD currently has eight AEDs “in the field” and several more in other city buildings. Most were purchased in 2007, and the memo indicates that replacement batteries, pads and repairs will not be available for that model “in approximately one year.” The model itself is being discontinued, the memo reads.

Council is expected to vote later this month on a:

• $98,330 contract with Zoneco LLC to evaluate, update, rewrite and modernize the city’s zoning code and subdivision regulations, which haven’t been updated since 2000. Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin said the update is meant to eliminate contradictions, improve clarity and create a code consistent with current laws.
  
• Five-year, $150,000-a-year contract with LTech Solutions Ltd., which manages all of Aurora’s IT and telecommunications, to continue providing information technology consulting services.
  
• $37,637 for Hejduk-Cox & Associates to provide professional engineering services for the design of sidewalks on Aurora Road and Bissell Road.

Aurora’s Committee of the Whole meetings begin at 6 p.m. and are followed by City Council’s regular sessions. The meetings will be held Nov. 11 and 25, as well as Dec. 16.