EAST LIVERPOOL High court reveals error on repayment

Most of the money at issue already has been repaid, a county official noted.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- An Ohio Supreme Court decision could affect a debt owed to East Liverpool by villages, cities and townships in Columbiana County.
The Ohio Supreme Court announced this week its ruling that the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals erred when it allowed the county budget commission to devise and adopt a five-year repayment plan for about $1.2 million owed East Liverpool by area communities, deputy county Auditor John Goempel said today.
The debt was incurred from 1998 through 2000, when the budget commission, at the urging of area communities, reduced East Liverpool's annual share of state tax dollars known as local government funds.
The reduction provides a larger share of the funds to area communities.
East Liverpool appealed the reduction to the Ohio Supreme Court, which agreed it was improper and ordered that East Liverpool's original share be restored and the $1.2 million debt repaid.
In response, the county budget commission restored the city's nearly 27-percent share of the funding and, in 2001, instituted the five-year repayment plan.
Objection
East Liverpool objected to the length of the plan. The city, which had proposed a two-year repayment schedule, appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, resulting in the decision announced this week.
Goempel said he believes the Supreme Court's recent decision will require the state tax appeals board to determine whether the repayment schedule chosen by the county budget commission is reasonable.
By the time the matter is resolved, most the debt will be retired, Goempel noted.
Repayments to the city are ahead of schedule, Goempel said. At the end of this year, East Liverpool will be owed about $369,000, he added.
The debt will be eliminated by the end of 2004.
The budget commission is made up of the county prosecutor, auditor and treasurer.