Plain Township trustees mull road levy options
PLAIN TWP. − With the costs of resurfacing roads soaring, township trustees are considering a road levy increase.
The trustees have instructed the township's law director, Eric Williams, to draft a resolution placing the levy on the Nov. 7 ballot.
It would be a five-year, 1.5-mill replacement road levy with a 1.5-mill increase for a total of three mills. If approved, it would be the first road levy increase since 2014. The levy would replace the 1.5-mill road levy voters first approved in 2014 that was largely capped based on 2014 property values. Voters then renewed that levy in 2019. That levy expires this year with final collections set for next year.
More: Plain Township trustees to consider road levies as cost of paving soars
Asking for more money
The trustees indicated that they believed a 1.5-mill replacement levy with a 0.5-mill increase and a 1.5-mill replacement levy with a 1-mill increase would provide an insufficient amount of money to properly maintain the township's roads.
Trustee John Sabo said he liked the idea of asking voters to approve what will essentially be a 3-mill levy and then eliminating the other levy. He and Trustee Scott Haws felt essentially a consolidation of the township's two road levies with the surviving levy based on updated property values would reduce voters' confusion and the township could spend less money to cover the costs of a levy election.
"I like the idea of consolidating levies," Sabo said at a meeting Tuesday.
Haws said having only one road levy rather than two would reduce the feeling that some voters have that they're constantly asked to approve a levy.
Haws later stressed that he's not yet made a final decision on which levy option he would support placing on the ballot.
The Stark County Auditor's Office has certified that if voters approve what would be a 3-mill levy, it would generate $3.02 million a year, an increase from the $1.09 million the road levy currently raises. The trustees said they would then repeal another 1.5-mill road levy, that dates back to 1982.
Voters agreed in 2001, 2007 and 2012 to replacement levies of the 1982 levy, based on updated property valuations. Voters renewed it in 2017 and 2021. It now provides $1.09 million a year and is set to expire in 2026 with final collections in 2027. Both of the township's current road levies generate $2.18 million to fund township road maintenance, resurfacing and snow removal.
Approval of the replacement levy and the repeal of the other road levy would add an additional $842,185 a year to the township's road maintenance fund. Plain Township homeowners now pay nearly $69 a year for each $100,000 in property valuation. That would go up by more than $36 to $105 a year.
The township's highway superintendent J.P. Neff made a presentation to the trustees about each of the levy options and why his department needed the additional money.
He indicated that if he could get $3 million in funding a year, he would recommend the trustees allocate:
$400,000 a year more in paving for a total of $2 million, which he said is "keeping your head above water.
$250,000 toward building curbs and gutters to improve drainage.
$100,000 for asset management.
$100,000 to improvement of road department buildings.
$100,000 for capital improvements like a storm sewer project.
$75,000 to establish a program to seal road cracks and protect roads from deterioration.
He presented a chart that said the township spent $1.44 million in 2018 to resurface 17 miles of road. This year, he expects his department to spend $1.87 million to resurface 10 miles of roads. The chart said the cost of asphalt has increased the past five years from $53.20 a ton to $88 a ton.
One of Neff's slides said that the township has 559 new homes built since 2014 and 2.8 more miles of township to maintain since 2020 with another three to four miles of residential streets developers are expected to add the next three years.
The cost of pavement markings were nearly $50 million last year, a jump from nearly $20 million in 2014, according to Neff's charts. Salt for snow removal cost $51 a ton in 2014. It was $72 a ton last year. Beet heat deicer, once $1.19 a gallon in 2014, has been $1.68 a gallon in 2022.
Neff said the township needs to replace the roof of its road department garage; replace the garage doors; replace the garage's 25-year-old furnace, air conditioning and generators; fix the wash bay's concrete floor, upgrade the garage's electrical wiring; and replace the siding on road department buildings.
Neff said after his presentation that if his department falls behind on maintaining the township's roads due to insufficient funding it will only increase the cost to catch up later.
"We take pride in our roads," he told the trustees. "(Motorists) know when they leave Plain Township. And they know when they enter."
The deadline for the trustees to place a levy issue on the Nov. 7 ballot is Aug. 9.
Disagreement on park name
Separately, the trustees debated the name of the park that's to be the site of the township's amphitheater by Township Hall.
Haws and Sabo liked Legacy Park.
Haws said he would prefer the new park have its own identity separate from the adjoining Oakwood Square, a privately owned shopping plaza.
"There are going to be a lot of memorable moments with family back here," said Haws. "I'm not a fan of Legacy Park of Oakwood. ... We don't say Veterans Park at Schneider."
Trustee Brook Harless didn't like the name Legacy Park.
She pointed out that the park would be near Oakwood Middle School and GlenOak High School as well as Oakwood Square. She felt a name that incorporated "oak" would fit.
"When I think of legacy, I think of a memorial park for World War II soldiers," said Harless, an Army veteran. "We'll have to agree to disagree on this."
Haws and Sabo voted to name the park "Legacy Park located at Oakwood Square." Harless, in a rare 2-1 vote, voted no.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Plain Township trustees move closer to asking for road levy hike
