Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

This isn't the first of the merger pushers. Who else was gung ho on this theme?

Continue to fight?

There are other communities that have chosen to merge the Township and the City to form a new city. The two examples are Hudson, Ohio and Pataskala, Ohio. The opponents will use Pataskala as their example of why it won?’t work and there will the proponents using Hudson on how it can and will work.

I think before anyone decides to push the issue of a merger of The City of Pickerington and Violet Township we need to all sit down and discuss the mutual benefits and the disadvantages to this merger.

I believe for those that have bothered to actually talk with the people in the Pataskala area they will find there was a fear from most in the community that Reynoldsburg was going to annex the entire Lima Township. Base solely on this ONE reason the residents moved quickly into a merger agreement and it passed the ballot. They neglected to fund their safety services and fund their community in general. Today the residents won?’t pass any new City taxes and they have one of the lowest police officer per population ratios in the state. I believe the commission that would review any proposed merger must look at everything before any proposal.

In Hudson, Ohio they did have some very similar issues at the Pickerington area does today. They had just gone to a SECOND HIGH SCHOOL and property taxes went through the roof. The citizens were outraged. They decided to ban together to counter the different government entities feeding students into their schools system. Their growth at the time was over a little over 3.5% and Pickerington schools and the City have been around 5% over the last decade.


Then we have the locals here start their campaign against any kind of merger first with the taxes and then the debt.

Yes, the city residents do pay more in taxes. State law requires that cities take on more responsibility for their roads, police and other services that townships are not required to do. However those that live in the unincorporated areas of Violet Township don?’t seem to realize is that Townships are caretaker type governments totally dependant on the state and county for funding and operational decisions.

Now back when Violet Township was actually a country setting there was little to do but plow the streets when it snowed and if someone needed an emergency squad then a fire department was called. Violet Township has left those days behind forever. You are now an urban township and you area all are going to experience the problems that all societies face when we must live closer together.

Let me give you all a couple of examples: Club Charts in the southern part of the township has been a problem for some time now and what has the trustees been able to do about it? The second problem the township faced was the speeding through Brentwood Farms. The township can?’t even put up a stop sign without approval of the county. Each time there is a sub-division put it you must get approval from big brother. These problems will continue to show their ugly head as more people move to the community.

Continue to Fight pt1

As Violet Township becomes even more urbanized in the future your problems will grow with every new resident. Yes; you too will wish you could go to City Hall and have them pass an ordinance to force your neighbors to take in his trash can after a few days of maggots on your sidewalk where your kids are playing.

There is concern about the City debt load. What you all should be concerned about is how they plan to pay that debt off. For those that don?’t know the city has a total of about $25 Million in debt.

Currently the City Waste Water plant has about $8 Million worth of debt. The city is nearing capacity and they will need to expand soon. If they follow the plans laid out by Joyce then they will need to sell 350 taps per year to pay that debt down. What does that do to your schools system?

The water plant also has around $7 Million of debt which was recently expanded and it could support the 350 taps per years with no problems.

Part of the sewer wars has been brought on by the annexation wars. The county has excess capacity and the county has taken on the capital debt for the unincorporated township. Please note the county is in financial trouble. Will they continue to support you in the township at the level you have all been accustomed too?

Please also keep n mind that you are now a Home Rule Township. Although you have new powers your trustees appear very reluctant to use that new founded power. Even if they push the bubble with that home rule laws they still won?’t have the power of a home rule city.

Are they willing to take over the county?’s water and sewer services to help control the township?’s growth? The county just sunk around $5 Million into the sewer plant upgrade on Tussing Road. They have millions invested into lift stations and other capital outlays. When will the county cut you off?

So my point with city debt is that the utilities debt is paid for by new people moving to Pickerington and by the utility users paying their monthly fees for service and capital maintenance. Whether you want to believe it or not as a county resident you have the same debt problem with the county and you have pledged your home through the County Commissioners to pay those bonds that the county utilities have just like the City residents.

NONE of this money can be used to build roads you build facilities for the safety services. None of it.

Continue to fight pt 3

Then that leaves us with about $10 Million in general fund debt. General fund pays for things like Police, Road, parks and operational staff. About $4 Million of that general fund debt is for the Police Station. As you may be aware the city is working on IMPACT fees. These fees will collect money from new builds to pay down the debt of the police station. It will more than likely pay down the debt incurred on road improvements like Diley Road. What does this do? It encourages the city to sell more homes to pay these debts down to collect the impact fees. I hope you are all keeping up.


Meanwhile what is happening in the Township? The County residents just voted down the .5% sales tax increase. This will cut the funding for the Sheriff?’s department by at least 30% maybe more. Who provides the township with your police protection? Just off the freeway last year homes IN THE TOWNSHIP near I-70 were robbed and the teenagers were found in one of the homes with a loaded gun. The suspect was caught with the home owner?’s clothes on trying to avoid being arrested.

My point here Violet Township will no longer be the place you moved to in 1985. Yes, the City does Micromanage but that is what happens when you have people living that close together. The fact is that the township does the very same thing with their Civic Associations but not as effective. Look at the issue with the resident painting his house the green color that his neighbor didn?’t like.

The more people you have the more problems you will have and you will continue to have fewer tools to deal with these problems in a home rule township.

Let?’s talk about the roads in the area.

If you look closely at a detailed map of Violet Township and Pickerington you find road moving in and out of the Township and the city. The Diley Road expansion is a good example. Even though the Pickerington City Council is catching the grief right for that expansion no one in the Township thinks a thing about it. The fact is that 40% of that road expansion is in the Township. The township at this date has not secured a funding source. For those of you that must go to work every day and pay the taxes for our roads do you feel any responsibility for cooperating in getting a good transportation system built here locally? Do you think you all will survive with the bedroom community mentality? A merged city township would allow a traffic grid system to allow us to have more political power to force the state to give us more access to the freeway system and relieve some of our traffic problems. It kills me to hear the township residents carp about the city and about the I-70/256 re-alignment. Yet they haven?’t put one thin dime into the project.