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Watch out ,Ted
We are not part of any group, old or new. We are citizens who are tired of this admin. spending money uwisely. Period. Most of us are on fixed incomes and feel we have been duped by many of you.
The blame game is over. These are your decisions. This rotten egg is going to wind up in your lap. You'll see why soon.
By You're being set up
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Moving in the right direction
There seems to be a number of issues that keep coming up here and none of those folks want to sign there name to their postings. Many of the decision making efforts were outlined in my previous postings.
The basic facts remain. The 2001 plan would have cost the city over $11 million to build and to make it operational in 2004. We now find out that by waiting we have discovered a weakness in that plan and that being the sand filter. In 2007, we can build a plant expansion for $9 Million and still have nearly the same capacity as the 2001 plan. The city has planned for years to start the expansion this year and that was laid out in the CIP with 2007 being the first year of that expansion. We are right on schedule. With a new governor in office the Director of the EPA was changed and they wanted to review our plant and to get our attention. They did and we as a city responded. As for living on a fixed income I include myself in that category. I retired in 2005 and I have questioned the spending of our city?’s tax dollars at every turn. Simply by delaying this plant expansion three years we save those rate increases until now. Those rate increases are not just for debt service, but also for the operation of the sewer plant. This new plan will simplify the operation and reduce the labor required to keep the new plant operational. Operational costs were one of our priorities. The problem we have now have is that the Ohio EPA has issued these permits to install for sewer taps in these residential sub-divisions that have not been used. That has basically reserved hundreds of thousands of gallons per day in capacity that the EPA requires us to maintain in our plant while those homes builder are not selling any homes.
I know there are those that see a discussion about the sewer plant as boring. However it is the basis of the growth in our community. The 2001 plan would have extended our sewer lines out beyond our borders and thus laid the ground work for future residential growth. With many of the big builders leaving town the production sales offices are closing and the sale of new homes should come down to a much slower pace in the near future. That is evident in the number of building permits being issued here in Pickerington this year of 54 compared to 140 this time last year. It should also be noted that we as a community are gaining on the school district valuation which directly affects our property taxes. Last year the student population increased around 3% while the property valuation increased over 7%. There is a lag in these numbers lowering our property taxes but we are moving in the right direction. Much of the commercial development going on now has not been posted with the county auditor?’s office, so I would expect even better numbers next year.
One of the biggest challenges we are facing here in Pickerington is the transition from a high residential growth city into a controlled growth city and the financial ramifications that go along with that conversion. When we where maintaining our sewer plant with residential taps fees that only transferred the costs over to the school district. As we draw back those tap fees and build fewer homes we will give relief to the school district.
By Ted Hackworth
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sure
You cannot hide behind your cloak, your style in your commets gives you away. It does not matter anyhow, just be sure we are happy you are gone and we are pretty sure you will not be able to come back into power.
I like people who are not politicos, Ted is one of those people.
By we know you
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testing
one two three
By webmaster
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