Officials: Wal-Mart brings benefits

Tax revenues are an
advantage for communities with a Wal-Mart store.

CANFIELD — There are some drawbacks to having the huge discounter Wal-Mart build a store in your community, but there are benefits as well.

Yes, increased traffic means more headaches getting from one place to another, a higher risk of car accidents and more road repairs.

Smaller businesses may be driven out as the retail giant uses its buying power to undercut their prices.

An increase in crime, also, is a fear that Wal-Mart foes often cite.

Opponents of a Wal-Mart in Canfield Township have expressed those worries as the company eyes a zone change for land behind Taco Bell on U.S. Route 224.

But in other communities, officials who spoke to The Vindicator say they believe the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

“Let me say, a disadvantage is people coming in,” said Austintown administrator Mike Dockry. “There’s more demand on roads, but that’s a county cost,” he said. Austintown’s Wal-Mart, which is being expanded right now into a supercenter with a grocery store, is on Mahoning Avenue.

He said demand for police service increases, too, though Police Chief Bob Gavalier said the Wal-Mart doesn’t stress his department with a need for extra manpower or patrols.

A big advantage to having Wal-Mart in the township, Dockry said, is that everyone else pays lower property taxes as a result.

Tax levies in Ohio can generate only the amount of tax revenue they originally generated when they passed. Communities collect the same amount of tax, just from more taxpayers.

So when Wal-Mart came in, the amount of taxes everyone else paid was reduced. “It was reduced across the board,” Dockry said.

In Union Township near New Castle, Pa., a supercenter on U.S. Route 224 has been a boon to growth, said Sally Byler, township secretary-treasurer.

She and township supervisors there can’t cite any disadvantages, she said.

Byler said Lawrence County, the township and the Union Area School District took out a loan for infrastructure for the development. Taxes on Wal-Mart’s building are used to pay back the loan. “And the infrastructure was there for other businesses to come,” she said. “It created jobs.”

Byler said Union Township didn’t experience shutdowns of small businesses after Wal-Mart moved in. “We are a small community to begin with and didn’t have businesses to lose,” she added.

Wal-Mart also has been a good neighbor, Byler said, by giving money to the police department for defibrillators (electronic devices used to establish normal heartbeats) and bulletproof vests.

The township also gets money from the state for cardboard the store recycles, she said.

In Salem in Columbiana County, a supercenter also has meant growth for the eastern edge of the city, said city Treasurer Robert A. Tullis.

The development to the east has helped sustain city operations after the loss of three manufacturing plants within the last five years: Eljer, which manufactured plumbing ware; Crane-Deming, which made water pumps; and Sekely, a tool-and-die plant for the auto industry, he said.

As for businesses being displaced by Wal-Marts, he said, there were businesses in Salem that actually welcomed the supercenter.

“Some businesses said, ‘Bring it on,’” he said. “People who come in to Wal-Mart have to drive by their stores.”