Liberty OKs annexation for Girard school

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

Trustees agreed to the annexation agreement by a majority vote.

LIBERTY — The new Girard Senior and Junior High School will now likely be built on land actually in the city of Girard, after a motion by Liberty Township trustees.

Trustees, in a majority vote Wednesday, agreed to an annexation agreement among the township, Girard and Girard schools on land located on Shannon Road, where the new school is to be built. Girard schools paid $200,000 for the 22.6 acres, but the land is in Liberty Township.

Trustees were set to vote on the annexation agreement earlier this month, but postponed the vote upon the request of Trustee Gary Litch.

Litch, who was out of town and did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, said he had questions about possible inconveniences to township residents should the school be built.

Trustee Jack Simon asked about plans for Shannon Road traffic with the new school.

Richard Rees, Girard Board of Education member, said there will be a traffic light installed at Beaver Street and Shannon Road with turn lanes at the intersection. The school property will also have two points of access from Shannon Road and another near Highland Avenue.

Simon said trustees have concerns anytime annexation is brought to the table.

“I have been in office for 12 years, and there has never been an annexation in my term,” he said. “We have to look out for not only the property at hand, but also the one next to it that will now abut the city.”

Rees reminded trustees that the school district would likely build the school even if trustees objected to the agreement — and the township could be left to provide emergency services to the school.

John Moliterno, school board member and Girard treasurer, told trustees that annexation is critical to the city for financial reasons. He said permit fees for the building process and tax revenue from those working on the site would come back to the city with the annexation of the property.

Simon and Trustee Jodi Stoyak ultimately accepted the agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, the land would be transferred to Girard for the nontaxable purpose of building a school.

Atty. Mark Finamore, representing the township, 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.

Finamore said there is little, if anything, the township can do to stop the annexation under Ohio law. 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 Trumbull County commissioners for approval and the township could lose its right to any future tax revenue.

Rees said he and the board are happy with the township’s decision to support the agreement.

“We have been working our way toward this and it just makes everything line up just a little better,” he said.

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