Girard schools seek transfer of Liberty land

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

Trustees hope to meet with school officials soon.

LIBERTY — Officials in the Girard School District want a large parcel of land to be transferred from Liberty Township to the city of Girard for school building purposes, but one trustee has a few questions before he is willing to sign the deal.

The school district plans call for a junior/senior high school facility to be placed on Shannon Road near Beaver Street and Goist Lane. The school district paid $200,000 for the 22.6 acres that is currently located in the township.

Atty. Mark Finamore, who represents the township, said school officials have plans on how to use the land, but first want it to be officially declared a part of Girard.

“They decided they wanted to annex this land to the city of Girard. They decided to solicit an annexation agreement from [Girard] city council and township trustees,” he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, the land would be transferred to Girard for the nontaxable purpose of building a school. Finamore said should the land be used for any taxable purpose in the next 12 years, however, those tax dollars would be received by Liberty, not Girard.

Township trustees were set to vote on the agreement this week, but Trustee Gary Litch said more information and more assurances on parking and traffic control from the school district would be needed before the agreement would receive his blessing.

“I think it’s important that we discuss this with Girard schools and the superintendent,” Litch said. “This will affect Liberty residents, and I want to know how they plan to handle the effects on those residents. I have concerns about this.”

Trustees tabled the vote on the annexation until they can meet with Girard school representatives.

Finamore said there is little, if anything, the township can do to stop the annexation. He said the agreement is in the best interest of the township because it assures any tax dollars generated from the land would remain in the township.

Should trustees oppose the annexation, Finamore said, the school district could take the matter before county commissioners for approval and the township could lose its right to any future tax revenue.

“Under current annexation laws, it is extremely doubtful the township could prove the necessary things needed to stop the annexation, because those things simply do not exist,” Finamore said.

The city is set to vote on accepting the annexation agreement July 28, Finamore said, meaning the township will need to schedule a meeting with school officials before that date.

Should the property be annexed, the city would assume all fire and police protection of that land.

The cost of the Girard schools building project is about $26 million. The state would pay 80 percent of that, leaving the district to pay 20 percent, or about $5.2 million.

jgoodwin@vindy.com