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This week's topic centers around the reported issue in the Pickerington Times-Sun on the city creating a ''paper township''. I am in the hopes that at least some of the people quoted in the article post more information than was reported. The article, in my opinion, left me with more questions than answers.
Councilman is looking at possibility of creating a city 'paper' township
By DAVID S. OWEN
The prospect of Pickerington becoming a ''paper township,'' with conforming boundaries is being investigated by City Councilman Ted Hackworth.
''When the city of Pickerington did all their annexations and incorporated itself over the last 20 or 30 years, the borders of the township that are under the city stayed there,'' Hackworth said.
''The city of Pickerington pays the township a fire levy and an administrative levy, and there are a number of cities around Ohio that have removed that township underneath (the city boundaries), and put a 'paper township' in place,'' he said.
In essence, the action would mean a new township that conforms to city boundaries would be establish instead of having the city still be a part of Violet Township.
''There is a good possibility that the city could shift the way it pays for fire protection, and it could actually save citizens money,'' Hackworth said
''If Pickerington became a paper township, then all those taxes that we pay, a 0.6-mill administrative fee and 7-mill fire levy, would be done away with,'' he said.
''We could contract out to the township for fire services, and make it worth their while to contract with us,'' he said.
Hackworth said former Pickerington City Manager Joyce Bushman and others have brought the issue up before.
''It's not an official move right now, but there are some investigations going on, in our tax package, and we need to look at everything in terms of dollars and cents,'' Hackworth said.
''A lot of this would have to go to the voters for their approval, so, it's not something City Council can go out and do on their own,'' Hackworth said.
''They are reinventing the wheel on this,'' said Violet Township Trustee Terry Dunlap, ''because Grove City, Dublin, Westerville, New Albany, Gahanna, have all looked at doing the same thing and they said it would cost them too much to have their own fire department, so it's not worth the effort.
''Why would Pick-town want to reinvent the wheel?'' Dunlap said.
''If the right package is put together, there is a strong possibility that we could save a huge majority of the Pickerington taxpayers money on their tax bills,'' Hackworth said.
''Pickerington has more flexibility and more options in how they pay for services ... so we could infuse some of the impact fee money into fire services like we do the police department right now,'' he said.
Pickerington Mayor David Shaver
By Roadrunner and Coyote
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Topic of the Week, part 2 of 2
said this is not something City Council, as a whole, is considering right now.
''There are a whole lot of things involved in doing something like this, and the city is not in a situation like Columbus was when they did it years ago,'' he said.
''Services would be duplicated, and we'd have to get a fire chief, and other service administrative people,'' he said.
Hackworth said he is in the early stages of looking at these possibilities, and as been collecting data on it, and not all the data is in yet.
''We could get to a point and say this is too much trouble and walk away from it, but we may get to a point that it really is a great idea and put it to the voters,'' he said.
''If the figures don't come back the way I'm hoping they will, then this whole thing will be nothing,'' Hackworth said.
''The township is restricted in ways they collect revenues and taxes, and how they can improve their revenues, and we're both looking for the same thing to improve and enhance our revenues,'' he said.
''So, there might be some things that the city can do that the township can't do that might benefit both of us,'' Hackworth said.
''For 50 some years, the current situation has worked well, and everybody has been sharing and consolidating, and we have a nationally recognized fire department, and the city would want to break that and start all over from scratch?'' Dunlap said.
''That sure doesn't make sense to me.''
''If the data comes back and looks good, then I would have to get the rest of council involved and interested and also involve the township trustees before any further movement goes ahead,'' Hackworth said.
By Roadrunner and Coyote
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Paper Township or not?
First; I want to clarify that I did not float this story as Jeff Fix would have us all believe. About a week and a half ago David Owen called me and was asking about a paper township. David has done that in the past and never written a story.
I had been looking into all the issues facing the city in terms of future development and where we should go from now in light of the fact that the Township and Canal Winchester once again rejected Pickerington from being in the CEDA area.
Clearly where and how we get our revenue in the future is an important issue to consider. I believe Brian Wisniewski is also looking at revenue and how we are all taxed. Since I talked with David Owen about a paper township I have received data and it does seem to me that a paper township would be a very beneficial issue to consider with the township. This is not some kind of pay back but some way to help our seniors and help our schools.
Currently the City taxpayers pay 7 mill for fire service and 3.9 for police service. If you owned a $200,000 home in the city then each year you pay around $770 per year to the police and fire levies.
Lets say you work and you get paid $75,000 per year. If you have no deductions and you work in another city you pay .5% of that $75,000 to Pickerington or $375 in income tax.
If the city voters would raise their income tax to 2% with a 50% credit then you would pay $750 to the City in income taxes and if we could get rid of the police and fire levies then your house payment would drop by $770 per year. $375 versus $770.
If you owned a $150,000 home and earned $55,000 you would save $577 per year on your home property taxes and your income taxes would increase by $325. Saving you in tax dollars of $252.
Obviously Seniors would save even more.
If they had a $150,000 home they would save the $577 per year in property tax and since the city doesn't tax social security and retirement income these seniors would see an extra $577 in their bank accounts.
Those that rented and those that worked here and live some place else would be paying more. Those that worked here or lived in say Canal or Columbus would break even.
The value of this is that it frees up some of that tax money the Schools complete with the police and fire levies and in most cases it lowers the tax burdens for most that live in the City and own homes.
Will our council be able to move forward and embrace new ideas? Probably not because they are about to give away the city's right to form a paper township.
The only way we can remove the Fire levy is to form a paper township
By Ted Hackworth
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Just to clarify
Mr Hackworth -
Thank you for submitting your research into the concept of creating a paper township. Can you please clarify how the article in the Times Sun came about last week? Are you saying that David Owen contacted you with questions and you did not expect that he would create a newspaper article based upon your responses?
By Randy Flagg
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