Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

July - September 2002 Newsletter

Oct 31, 2002

Enough is enough!
- A call to action -
For nearly two years now the Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance (PATA) has been publishing and distributing newsletters to members of the greater Pickerington community. This has been done in an effort to raise awareness about issues being dealt with by your local governments. The Fairfield County Commissioners, the Violet Township Trustees, the Pickerington Board of Education, the City of Pickerington, and various other State and local governmental agencies all affecting you. Doing what they do ?– for better or worse ?– affects the taxes you pay as a resident of this community, and affects the quality of life you and your family can enjoy in and around your home.

Our publication is often critical of some or all of these governmental entities. When we as residents of the community (both City and Township) see our governments acting in a way that may not be in the best interests of the taxpayers; then we feel an obligation to bring that to your attention, and to offer you insight into what you as a voter and a taxpayer can do about it.

Those who have been criticized often try to ?“spin?” some of the things that are published here; either by making light of them, discounting them all together, or accusing the authors of being similar to ?“Communist and Nazi?” propagandists (Mayor Randy Hughes). Our purpose is not to spread propaganda, or to cause anyone undue angst or grief. We recognize that serving the public is a difficult and often under-appreciated vocation. Our objective ?– again ?– is simply to point out issues that we think should concern you and to let you make your own judgments.

And for those out there who think that this organization is made up of just a few ?“Anti-Pickerington zealots?” (Councilman Doug Parker). We?’d like to make it clear that while there are several score who are active members of the organization, there are literally hundreds out there (both City and Township residents) who have expressed appreciation for the points of view presented in these newsletters.

Again, we will state our Mission Statement.

To consult, review and make public comments on issues that affect Pickerington area taxpayers. To encourage and provide a forum for Pickerington area taxpayers to speak out.



SO,



We?’ve come to a point in our community where it is time to shake the gloves off and call the issues as we see them. While there are many issues in our community having to do with our School Board, the Township, and County governments, the actions being taken by the government of the City of Pickerington are ridiculously irresponsible at best, outright corrupt at worst.

One of the responsibilities of any city government is to plan for and execute the development of land currently within the city, and to annex and develop land around the city that will provide a benefit to the city and its taxpayers. The responsibility is not to annex land for the sake of doing so, but to work from a long-range plan that will allow for the balanced development of said lands. What does balanced development mean? It means that a municipality like Pickerington would develop new and existing lands within the city boundaries in a way that spreads the tax burden evenly between residential, commercial, and industrial tax bases. The reason for this is pretty simple. With a balanced tax base, no one group takes on an undue share of the tax burden. One of the biggest complaints anyone in our community has with the way the city of Pickerington is currently being managed is that there is way too much residential growth, without the offsetting commercial and industrial growth to balance out the tax base. Now Mayor Hughes and City Manager Joyce Bushman like to spout a statistic that is at least several years old, unknown in origin, and suspect at best. They like to say that City brings in $1 in commercial taxes for every $3 they raise in residential taxes. They compare this to the Township saying that the Township has a $26/$1 ratio. The Mayor has been challenged and failed to respond to the following questions about this dubious statistic.

1. In this statistic, how much of the ?“commercial?” development includes apartment buildings? You see, apartments are technically considered commercial development even though they clearly add more children to our schools.
2. After taking out apartments, how does this statistic compare to other similar municipalities? Comparing a city to a township is like comparing the Ohio State football team to the Pickerington Junior High football team. One simply has abilities that the other does not.

These are questions that our city government should answer before again spouting out this tired old statistic.

And any semblance of ?“balanced?” growth that may have been happening will soon go out the window.

In the month of September, Pickerington?’s City Council approved the development of 2,207 new residentially platted units within city limits. All but 175 of those are single family (read ?“with school kids?”) homes. In comparison, the Township added 62 new units in September.



Post in "Our Pages" is a chart of the ugly TRUTH -- under September Plat approvals.


On September 25, 2001, City Manager Joyce Bushman was quoted as saying, ?“We are paying for ourselves. What I?’m saying is we have balanced the residential and the commercial. Because residential NEVER pays for itself, if your talking about schools. Our 10,000 residents, of our city, we have balanced residential and commercial.?”

-she continues....

?“We have a very well planned, very balanced approach to our development... We?’ve planned out our whole road system. We?’ve planned out our water and sewer system. We have a comprehensive land use plan.?”

Using the standard statistic of 3.1 residents per new home, the city will quickly add over 6,600 new residents in the near future. Today there are approximately 10,000 residents in the city. Using the School Board?’s statistic of .8 children per home, the city just added 1,766 kids to our schools that would easily fill two new schools that haven?’t even been thought of yet

(so we all have that school levy to look forward to down the road).



Why is the City doing this?


It?’s really quite simple (and this is where the complete lack of responsibility comes in). Throughout this year, a group of city residents have been circulating petitions designed to limit Council?’s ability to grow the city in this manner. These initiatives ?– to appear on the November ballot ?– would give city residents an opportunity to:


 Vote on the density of residential developments brought into the community

 Vote on how and when council should use emergency legislation (more on that later)


 Vote on whether or not the city should give away tap fees to residential developers (more on that later as well).


It turns out that our city government has made some promises to the developers that could not be kept if these initiatives are passed by you ?– the voters ?– this fall.

In an effort to keep those promises, completely discounting the will of the voters, the City is pushing forward with the final platting of all of these developments in a final rush before the November elections.

Faced with the possibility of these initiatives being approved by the voters, Council President Lou Postage said, ?“It makes us have to work a little harder and a little faster.?” Are these the words of a responsible elected official?



And this is just September?…


This is all in addition to the literally thousands of other new residential properties that have been approved and platted by City Council over the past couple of years.

It took well over 100 years for the City of Pickerington to grow to 10,000 residents. Based on the developments that the current City Council has approved, it should only take five or six years for it to grow by another 10,000 residents. And this wouldn?’t be a bad thing if there were ANY real effort to grow the commercial/industrial tax base.

The city is exceptionally proud of the commercial growth that has occurred within its boundaries in the past several years.

Any monkey could tell you that restaurants, drug stores, strip centers and gas stations would pop up in a community of 10,000. Some doctors, dentists, veterinarians, banks, and other service oriented retail establishments will sprout up as well.

But where is the office complex?

Where is the light industrial park?

Where is the medical or Technology Park?


Why is there nothing but new homes popping up in our community and why is City Council doing NOTHING to bring an industrial tax base that will ease your tax burden?

OK ?– so we know that City Council is being irresponsible about growth. What else?


How about use of taxpayer funds?


There are 10,000 residents in the city of Pickerington. These 10,000 residents pay for the actions taken by City Council, the Mayor, and the City Manager among others.


Would it gall you to know that the City paid over $15,000 for a float to ride around in during local parades? Would you be comfortable paying $1.50 for every man woman and child to see them in parades? Or could they just walk down the street shaking hands like most elected officials?


Would you cringe just a little knowing that the city funded an initiative to defeat Senate Bill 5 (the fair annexation law) to the tune of nearly $150,000? If you live in a home of four in the city of Pickerington, are you OK with paying $60 to the city for them to fight this bill (it eventually passed in spite of the city?’s and City Manager Joyce Bushman?’s efforts)?


Would you scratch your head if you knew that you had paid $700,000 to build a road that dead ends into NOTHING? (Go South on Hill road just before the railroad tracks and take a left turn just after you pass the Villa condos. This road ends at a barrier.) Villa condos already had an entrance and an exit. One exit was shut off and another one built at your expense (Is it a coincidence that Daryl Barry owns the Villa condos property?) Are you OK with the idea of paying $70 to make it easier for BGM (Berry?’s company) to sell condominiums?


Would it make you wonder ?“why??” if you knew that the city was paying Robert Mapes a salary of $70,000 per year, and then went to outside counsel counsel Richard Brahm (who also happens to represent Dominion Homes) and William Goldman(who also represents ?“90% of the residential developers that come to town?”) among others to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars? If you were paying someone to fix your car would you then hire several other people to do the same work?


Would you be a little uncomfortable with the thought of paying another $1.5 million than had been budgeted for the new police station? Are you OK with paying another $150 (PER RESIDENT) for budget overruns?


Would it make you just a little upset if you knew that the City is giving away tap fees totaling nearly $3 million over the next several years to RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPERS? If you have a family of four you will be paying developers like Homewood, Virginia Homes and others $1,200 or more over the next several years. YOU will be paying THEM so that they will build MORE HOMES in our community!


Would it really get under your skin if you worked hard for your money (who among us doesn?’t?) and then put all of this together and figured out that you were spending literally thousands of dollars in taxes that were wasted by people you elected in your home town to represent your interests? IT SHOULD!


And none of this even takes into account the money you and I pay for our schools. Just remember for every 1,000 homes added to our community, we would need to build a new school. And with no offices or industrial parks on the horizon to help pay for it?…. you get the picture.

And if that?’s not enough to get you going, they?’re mortgaging your future as well.

The tap fees noted above would normally be used to pay for wastewater treatment facilities, repair, and upkeep. The City?’s current facility can handle 1.8 million gallons of untreated sewage per day. The city has asked (and has yet to get approval for) an expansion of this plant?’s capacity to 3.5 million gallons per day. Who will pay for this? Well, since the tap fees have been foregone you and I will. But that?’s not the worst of it. The Ohio EPA is now estimating (based on the permit requests from new subdivisions) that the homes being built in the area will pump 4.1 million gallons of untreated sewage into this facility every day! This plant can only handle 1.8 million gallons per day and over the last 3 years has exceeded that capacity on 80 separate occasions which means that less than fully treated sewage is dumped into Sycamore Creek. So if they have the ability to treat 1.8 million gallons today, possibly 3.5 million gallons some day (if approved) where is the additional 600,000 gallons of untreated waste water going to go every day? ?“GEE I DON?’T KNOW BUT LET?’S SURE BUILD A BUNCH MORE HOUSES AND FIND OUT!?”

A simple answer would be for the city to form a partnership with the Fairfield County Utilities, something that had been proposed and was in the works until city officials threw a hissy fit when County Commissioners denied one of their annexation requests. Of course city officials were all too willing to let both the municipal utility users and the county utility users subsidize the waved and reduced tap fees in a share the poverty method of cooperation.

Pickerington officials walked away from those talks and now, literally, the ?“poop?” is bound to hit the fan. And you and I will be left to either clean up this smelly mess or ?– for sure ?– to pay for someone else to.


And now Councilman Bill Wright wants to hold growth meetings?!!!??!!!!

Give me a #$%^&* break! Most of you were here back in the summer of 2000 when the Township called for a ?“Growth Summit?”. City officials at first agreed to a series of public meetings which quickly turned into the city seeking a merger with the Township. In January of 2001 ?– after these meetings had fallen apart ?– Mayor Hughes sent a letter to the Violet Township Trustees. In this letter the Mayor said, ?“I am appointing a special committee to evaluate our zoning code relative to the township zoning code. We are also meeting with representatives of the Pickerington Local School District to discuss ?‘make whole?’ provisions on future Tax Increment Financing districts.?” So that was supposed to be the big result of the last set of growth summit meetings. By the way ?– neither of these things came to fruition and the disparity of growth between the city and township has now grown to epic proportions. Talking is never a bad idea. But the same cast of characters is now in place as we had in 2000. So why would the result be any different? Anyone want to bet about a headline in 2004 that suggests a meeting on better managing growth?

So now we?’ve established that our city government is mismanaging the growth of our community, misspending our tax dollars, mismanaging our future, and stalling for time. All of this on top of the fact that they just don?’t get that they serve the voters and yet they continue to use every hook and crook to fight citizen-led petitions.

Clearly, our elected officials are acting irresponsibly at best, corrupt at worst. There certainly appears to be a disconnect between this government, the citizens they serve and their desire for a promising future for this community.

Is there anything left to do but to THROW THE BUMS OUT?

These people are the problem ?– not part of the solution!

Council Members Brian Fox, Lou Postage, and once defeated then appointed Craig Maxey are all up for election in 2003. As is Mayor Hughes.

Council Members Monebrake, Wright and Parker are not due until November of 2005.


Our conclusion, based on all that is written above and the hundreds of other pages of mismanagement that we could write about, is that our community can not afford to wait until November of next year to change the Mayor and the majority. This community cannot wait until January 2006 to wipe the slate clean of the mismanagement and corruption that defines our current city government.




Our conclusion is that it is time to recall Mayor Hughes, and Council Members Fox, Postage, Maxey, Monebrake, Wright and Parker as soon as possible.




The Charter of the Municipality of Pickerington, Ohio Section 8.07
Subsection #3 reads as follows:




Recall The electors of the Municipality shall have the power to remove from office by recall election any elected official of the Municipality. If an elected official shall have served six (6) months of the term, a petition demanding removal may be filed with the Municipal Clerk who shall note thereon the name and address of the person filing the petition and the date of such filing, and deliver to such person a receipt therefore and attach a copy thereof to said petition. The petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one instrument. Each part shall contain the name and office of the person whose removal is sought and a statement in not more than two hundred (200) words of the grounds for the removal. Such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals twenty-five (25) percent of the total number of electors voting at the last preceding regular Municipal election.


Within ten (10) days after the day on which such petition shall have been filed, the Municipal Clerk shall determine whether or not it meets the requirements hereof. If the Municipal Clerk shall find the petition insufficient, the Clerk shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is defective, deliver a copy of the certificate to the person who filed the petition, and make a record of such delivery. Such person shall be allowed a period of twenty (20) days after the day on which delivery was made in which to make the petition sufficient. If the Municipal Clerk shall find the petition sufficient, the Clerk shall promptly so certify to the Council, shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the official whose removal is sought, and shall make a record of such delivery.


If such official shall not resign within five (5) days after the day on which delivery shall have been made, the Council shall thereupon fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than sixty (60) days nor more than seventy-five (75) days after the date of such delivery. At such recall election, this question shall be placed upon the ballot: ?“Shall (naming the official) be allowed to continue as (naming the office)??” with provision being made on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively on such question. If a majority of the votes cast at such election shall be voted affirmatively, such official shall remain in office. If a majority of the votes cast shall be voted negatively, such official shall be considered as removed, the office shall be declared vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled as provided by this Charter. The official removed by such recall election shall not be eligible for appointment to the vacancy created thereby.


This is the prescribed course of action, approved within the existing Charter, for the residents of the City of Pickerington.