Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Ever sit and read the comments of the local press repeating how officials keep saying everyone else is doing it so we need to do it to? The ?“it?” is growth and the keeping up with the Jones?’s is a real stupid reason to do anything. Today?’s Dispatch had an article about the Hilliard Mayor now trying to control residential growth.
That Mayor?’s been fighting an uphill battle over there against what has been repeatedly called a pro development council. Well I remember that we had to have a 2nd high school like Hilliard, we had to do minimal millage like Hilliard, and we need to grow like Hilliard. So the question is do we act to control growth before Hilliard as Shaver or Hackworth have been proposing or do we let Hilliard do it first and have even more pro builder pressure here?


By suomynona

Picktown is no Hilliard

suomynona,

Picktown is no Hilliard.

Where Hilliard has commercial development, Pickerington has none.

Where Hilliard has a balanced tax base, Pickerington does not.

Where Pickerington has tremendous public debt and is poised to DOUBLE this public debt, Hilliard does not!

Where Pickerington?’s city council listens only to homebuilders, Hilliard does not.

Where Pickerington ignores the voters, Hilliard does not.

Pickerington is in CRITICAL condition. We need a miracle. Perhaps a miracle in Picktown is spelled:

R-E-C-A-L-L!
R-E-C-A-L-L!
R-E-C-A-L-L!




By Recall Petitioner

I disagree

I disagree with your comments about Hilliard. I believe Hilliard is a little better off than Picktown with industry but not much. They have a few truck lines and warehouses but from what I've seen, and heard, Hilliard is also mostly hotels, food establishments and some retail ?– sound familiar?

According to a friend of mine that lives there she said the only large business in Hilliard is Worldcom and they owe the city big $ in taxes.

I haven't pulled any of their tax information but the fact that the mayor wants to slow growth makes me think they are experiencing many of the same growth issues we are.

Fact or farce...



Hilliard boasts one of the healthiest tax bases in the state with more than 40% of the tax revenue coming from the business sector:

http://www.columbus.org/community/comms_hilliard.html

Picktown? What is it, 18% or some other ridiculous number like that? I won't even mention TIFs and how that reduces even further the commercial taxes PLSD receives. I also won't mention the heaping of 2,200 + houses on
the school district in one month alone last year by Picktown's own city council. Do you think Hilliard's residents would stand for that? Do you think Hilliard's Mayor would stand for that?

Pickerington's biggest ''commercial industry'' is the school district. Why do you think city hall is frantically at work trying to annex their way to the new H.S. site? That is the city's only real source of income tax revenue: school district teacher and administrator salaries.

If / when they do annex the new H.S. site, and I'm told the PLSD BOE may very well roll-over on this one, all PLSD taxpayers will be paying for the district's increased costs to make these teachers whole.

Let me explain...

If a teacher in one of the district's incorporated V.T. buildings makes $ XX,XXX salary and doesn't pay city income tax, the board must pay a teacher who works in the city, and has the same tenure/education, $ XX,XXX + their income lost from city income taxes. This could run into several hundred thousand dollars a year. We certainly want to avoid that unnecessary expense at all cost and it would behoove us to keep the city away from the new HS.

Where is Pickerington's business park that they have been touting for 10 years now? And where's the industrial park? Have they given up on that? Your city manager certainly can't dedicate 98% of her time & 99% of your money towards 3,000 new houses and expect an industrial park to drop from the sky.

In the Picktown Communicator here's what Lou Postage said: '' I am anxious to see the city develop a strong commercial park...''

This one's from Doug Parker, ''I represent the best interest of the citizens of Pickerington in commercial development...''

And one from Bill Wright: ''The city has been steadfastly increasing our commercial base... '' ''... and is currently moving towards U.S. Route 33, the absolute best site for the light industrial park.''

Someone forgot to remind these three that they currently have no plans for a commercial park, but they have approved a record number of homes for 2003.

With that said, trying to lure business into Picktown, which is notorious for poor traffic management & infrastructure and the inability to
cooperate with anyone other than homebuilders, is going to be very, very difficult. It is apparent that Joyce Bushman and Susan Crotty do not have
the talent, education, motivation or experience to attract ''real'' continuing economic development. These two should be fired immediately, and if they worked for Hilliard, they would be fired. Having a press release to announce that a business has moved from one end of the city to the other (with a TIF blessing) further illustrates my point. But if you
want advice on illegal ''pre-annexation agreements'' or how to fund traffic lights through the use of TIFs, you might want to call these two.

Let not be in denial here, Hilliard may have one or two small problems, but Picktown has some very, VERY BIG & serious problems!

I REPEAT... PICKTOWN IS NO HILLIARD !!!

By