Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Trustee wants to conform boundaries
Thursday, February 7, 2008
DAVID S. OWEN


ThisWeek Staff Writer

Truro Township trustee Pat Mahaffey said last week he would like to see the city of Reynoldsburg take another look at the possibility of conforming its boundaries with the township.

He called it a safety issue, but three city council members said there is no reason for Reynoldsburg to take such action.

Conforming boundaries would make Truro Township boundaries the same as those for Reynoldsburg.
Mahaffey said if the city were to conform its current boundaries, Truro Township's fire and EMS services could expand to cover city residents who live in Etna, Jefferson and Violet townships.

According to Truro Township trustee Dennis Nicodemus, 1 percent of Reynoldsburg's approximately 32,000 residents live in Violet Township, 5 percent in Jefferson Township and 15 percent in Etna Township.

Those residents are thus served by the fire departments in those townships. Property taxes from city residents living in those townships go to the fire departments that handle those jurisdictions, not Truro.

Although exact numbers are not available, Mahaffey said if the city did conform its boundaries, Truro Township would take in at least $1-million more per year in revenue, which would enable it to build a third fire station on Taylor Road.

Councilman Mel Clemens said conforming boundaries would take a lot of money away from the other townships, especially from the West Licking department.

''It's been a good fire department and really, at the present time, I'd hate to do something that would diminish them,'' he said. ''I am not too interested in it and I've seen no problems that exist, but, of course, I'd be willing to talk about it.''

Councilman Ron Stake said he's concerned about whether Reynoldsburg could afford to conform its boundaries. He said he remembers when the issue came before council for discussion in 2002.

''I've never heard any complaints from anybody in any of the fire districts about poor fire service,'' Stake said. ''What I heard back then with our attorney and development director is if we did that, we, the city, not Truro Township, would have to take over any debt in the

Reynoldsburg portion of those areas. At that time, the figure I heard was over $1-million and we don't have a million dollars to do that with.''
Councilman Doug Joseph, who is a member of the West Licking Joint Fire District's board, said he has always been opposed to conforming boundaries.

''The citizens are not clamoring over this. There's no need and no desire to change fire service protection,'' Joseph said. ''The Licking County portion of Reynoldsburg has been serviced by their district for many years, and primarily the substation on Mink Road is not that far away from the people who live around there.

''Truro just built a new fire station on East Livingston Avenue which is servicing the western and central parts of the city and that was justified, considering the old station they were operating out of,'' Joseph said. ''But there is absolutely no reason to extend their

By Average Joe taxpayer

paper township continued

jurisdiction into Licking County or anywhere else when there is no justification for it, no one is asking for it and voters have been very adamant in recent years about tax increases.''
Mahaffey said nine years ago, before he became a trustee, a couple of firefighters told him the boundaries of the township needed to be conformed to that of the city.

''Here I have experts who spend their whole life fighting fires and saving people's lives and they are the ones that are telling me this,'' he said. ''I am starting to say people are in danger out here and somebody better wake up.''

He said the area where The Limited is located on East Broad Street is 4.8 miles from the nearest Jefferson Township fire station.

''Taylor Road and East Main Street, which is in the West Licking Joint Fire Department's jurisdiction (Etna Township), is 4.2 miles from the substation they have on Mink Road, and eight miles from their main station,'' Mahaffey said.
''All things being equal, there are parts of Reynoldsburg that nobody could reach in the time that you're supposed to get there, which is about four minutes,'' he said. ''The problem is, you're now looking at seven or nine minutes ... we can still get there a little quicker, but West Licking doesn't call us any more.
''This is a safety issue,'' Mahaffey said. ''Let's not think about how much money somebody not in your jurisdiction is going to lose. Residents in those areas should organize a citizens group and tell the city they need to do this, and do something about their safety.
''One of these days, something is going to happen and everybody's going to be saying 'I told you so,' and I don't want to say that.''



By Average Joe taxpayer

it is money

This is pretty simple....They want the money from the new Target store that is not in the TIF that they gave away to Wal Mart. They would also get most of Sams and Gander Mountain and any other commercial valuation, like the apartments and condos past Sams that are in Violet Township... but not the kids in the school district from the apartments.

This is a money grab pure and simple. They feel as though their TIF attracted ALL the business to the area, and that the development outside the TIF should be their piece of pie too. They may hav a point but giving away the store then whining about it... well nasty grapes. Meanwhile Violet had to put a fire substation up there because of so many runs to the area, now when some dollars to pay for that come along, R burg wants the money. Maybe Violet just wants to give it to them because all of those runs to the TIF area do not have any revenue coming in to the township to support them.

For some of you, Violet getting screwed is welcome I know...Go ahead Pickerington conform your boundaries and become the second Pataskala! Just drive up there on those Pataskala roads... and get new tires and rims when you come home.

Conforming is dead

This is a dead issue so everyone can stop talking about it. Once you've done an expedited annexation you can not conform your boundaries. This was done with the Shell station years ago, it just took everyone a long time to figure this out.

This issue is dead for the City no matter how you feel about it.