Patience is a virtue, the old expression goes. That might never be so true as it is right now in Center Township, where developer Cambridge Health Solutions is building the new VA Butler Healthcare center.

Center Township officials are proposing a tax increment financing district along North Duffy Road, adjacent to the VA construction. They say a TIF designation could lead to the creation of thousands of high paying jobs.

The proposed TIF district would involve 100 acres including property in Butler Township that developers reportedly are eyeing as prime real estate.

A TIF district would allow businesses to pay for property improvements instead of paying property taxes. It would require approval not only from Center Township, but from every other taxing entity — Butler Township, the Butler School District and Butler County.

On Monday, Center Township engineer Ron Olsen and solicitor Michael Gallagher made a presentation to the Butler Township commissioners. They discussed procedural elements, most notably that the VA Butler Healthcare construction project would be included, but wouldn’t receive TIF money. They reviewed projections of as many as 2,000 high paying jobs being created by development around the new VA clinic.

Their reception could be described as a few degrees below cool. That’s not surprising. The existing VA center is in Butler Township, as was the original construction site for the new one before a previous contract was disqualified.

Butler Township officials criticized the proposed road reconfigurations, saying they would add travel time for emergency vehicles serving that portion of their township. Butler Township solicitor Larry Lutz questioned the TIF’s timing, saying Center Township’s proposed process — creating the TIF district before anyone has agreed to develop the land — didn’t make sense to him.

Gallagher, the Center Township solicitor, said they don’t have all the answers yet, adding, “We think we’re being good neighbors” by serving advance notice of what’s in the works.

While it’s laudable to keep the neighbors posted, it’s equally important not to oversell a project that’s still in its infancy.

This is especially true when a large project involves overlapping taxing entities; and when the leadership of the other taxing entities are about to change dramatically — including an all-new board of Butler County commissioners and the Butler School Board.

Those boards will be seated in December and January. And in the weeks beyond that, the Butler County Planning Commission will have a new director appointed to succeed David Johnston, who has announced his retirement.

Center Township would be prudent to wait on the new leadership while advancing and refining its TIF district proposal, and it should recruit support from various business and community agencies.

The VA is committed to its project in Center Township — that’s a done deal, and that’s the enterprise that will anchor other business development around it.

It’s the certainty of the coming development that sheds doubt on the need for a TIF district.

Center Township officials should remain mindful of this doubt as they market their proposal. They need to prove that those 2,000 projected new jobs wouldn’t just show up on their own anyway. And it might be a matter of time before they can formulate their case for it.