Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Merge or not?

Dear Regular Guy,

You bring up the ''M'' word again. Please remember that when Pataskala did their merge with Lima township they didn't include an income tax. They are dying now for police officers and road maintenance because once the township divorces itself from the county the new city takes on more responsibility in exchange for greater control of the new and larger city's destiny.

I think many in the township objected to the City income tax because that was a convenient excuse to oppose that bunch down on Lockville Road.

If you look the income tax the city has it only taxes its residents .5% because most of us work outside the city. Even though the tax is 1% the residents get a .5% credit for working outside our city limits. The city does not tax retirement income like IRAs and social Security. So the vast majority of the current taxpayer in the township would only pay .5% tax rate to the city.

I think before any of us move down this path we need to make sure that the City actually develops a true growth management plan. That plan must control our rate of growth and make some real plans for our future. If the city actually gets a plan in place then maybe a study of our rate of growth issues versus what it costs us in a never ending school levies and bond issues that come before us each year.

I would suggest then to form a committee or commission to address what the new city and its issue would be. If that is fully explained to the voters in not numbers not superlatives then I think many in the unincorporated areas might buy into the idea. Remember that we would need to write a new charter and we would need to form new districts within this new city for representation to the new council. Sure enough Terry and Harry would be running for one of those seats.

By Average Joe

Merger talk

If the city and township actually voted to merge, I would hope that meant voters decided the trustees (as a group) did not meet our expectations, and, even if some of them ran for council, they would not be elected. It is something to explore, but I cannot see this happening within the next 5-7 years. By then, it might be too late.

Hey tigpan

It could happen much sooner. Surf the web and look into other instances where a merger took place. You have two major criteria to meet.

1. Educate the residents
2. Run a special election

To accomplish 1, you hire a contractor. And when you do 2, you assure that nothing else appears on that ballot to confuse anyone.

Also, the merged entity would be run by a committee rather than a council or trustees. It is safe to assume that the number would be more than council but to maintain a tiebreaking vote capability, you would go from 7 to 9. The first 2 additions could be appointments. You could then run the seats in the next general election.

By Regular Guy

Parker ain't no genius

Stop patting Doug on the back, he is no numbers man or genius. Please remember there is a Trustee election approaching and that most of the ''trouble makers'' that started this whole take back your government push live in the township.