Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

they will be back

I believe developers will be back talking with the Ricketts, but may try to get this zoned and annexed into Pickerington.

If you look at the map now that the annexation issue has been settled on lands to the West...it would not take much to abut this land area to Pickerington....gee you could take the High School and Junior High property too, and hey reap all of that income tax money the city does not get now from the largest employer in the city and it is my understanding that the taking of the School land is somewhat ''automatic'' in annexation law if adjacent parcels at involved in the annexation petition. Those that drive by Hickory Lakes may notice that pipe for installation of gas lines lie at the entrance to the property.

If the township and the city get an agreement on an economic development district in this area, this all would seem very plausible. Perhaps developing this land in something other than residetial should be seriously explored, although it would probably take longer to sell, commercial land does bring a higher return to the landowners.

What gain?

What could the city possibly gain by annexing that acreage?? If I remember the past a little, aren't the popular annexation to the north and south of the city costing us over $3,000,000 in give aways? How much would it cost the taxpayers to annex even more? I thought that it was proven that the cost of community services is greater than the tax benefits.

For crying out loud - quit the annexation talk and get on with a merger.

By What the...?

No giveaways

I do not believe the current adminstration will do the same incentives and giveaways for annexations as the past administration.

The major gain to the city would be the income tax revenue from the schools....well above any other income tax revenue the receive from any other business in the city...one could view this as a huge gain.

Talk merger all you want, it is pretty clear that Most unicorp township residents would vote NO on any merger, Just ask them... the handful that support it have good ideas but most residents view this merger as asking for more problems...I think they are correct.

The ship is leaving the dock

I am not sure why there would be a reason for the current city administration to ever consider annexing this land to build more homes. I think they still have thousand of approved lots left over from the previous administration to deal with.

The current zoning in the city is two lots per acre. I doubt any time soon that companies like Dominion will get any special favors from the slow growth crowd on the current council.

Annexing the North High School complex may be a different subject. The one percent income tax would not be that much additional income for the city. I believe I have heard it would be in the range of $150,000 per year. That even sounds high to me. That would mean about 25% of the payroll for PLSD is in that complex.

The problems that the township residents imagine with being in a city will come home to roast one day. As the township becomes more dense the more issues will arise with more people. To deal with these problems will cost more in services and the township have limitations in how it can raise those revenues. They can't impose an income tax even as a home rule township. They can't pass ordinances that impose fines or jail time. They must depend on the county to provide that for them.

What our dear friends in the township will find out some day is that they had an opportunity to merge and when they realized their fair township was out of control they will no longer be attractive to the City.