Poland Township approves tax levy

By GRACE WYLER

gwyler@vindy.com

The Poland Township Board of Trustees approved a resolution to put a tax levy on the May 2010 ballot at the board’s monthly meeting.

The tax would be a replacement levy for current expenses for the township’s general operating fund, Bob Lidle, the vice chairman of the board, said.

The new tax would replace the current levy, originally passed in 1978. The levy generates about $200,000 annually. The new levy would generate an additional $250,000 each year, roughly, according to James Scharville, the township administrator.

If it is approved in May, the new levy will make the township’s operating expenses current, Lidle said. The levy has not been altered since 1978, and as a result, the township now operates at 45 cents on the dollar.

“All [the tax levy] will do is bring us up to current funding levels,” Lidle said. “No additional millage is being asked for.”

The board approved the resolution to avoid fiscal problems down the road, Lidle said. The township, like other communities in the area, has had financial difficulties due to changes in state laws and funding.

“We certainly don’t want to get into a state of fiscal emergency, much like some of our neighboring communities,” he said. “It really is one of those things where our backs are up against the wall if we don’t bring our funding up to current monetary values.”

It is important that residents remember the quality of the services the township provides, Lidle said.

“We offer the best services,” he said. “We provide excellent police protection, and we have gone through programs that save the township money.”

In other business, the board moved to continue its partnership with MS Consultants on the Safe Routes to School Program.

The program, which is paid for by the federal government through the state, fully funds the construction of sidewalks along routes to school.

The Ohio Department of Transportation approved a $24,000 grant for the township’s preliminary plans to build a sidewalk along Route 170. The sidewalk would run from Poland Village to Poland Seminary High School.

The township needed to submit more evidence of the community’s support for the project in order to get funding to complete the project, Lidle said.

MS Consultants has continued to work on the project, Lidle said, and the Township Board has submitted a grant proposal for the construction of the sidewalk. The new agreement allows the township to continue working with MS Consultants on the project.

“We have gotten support from all across the community and now it is a matter of continuing to submit evidence of that support,” Lidle said. “It is in the hands of the state now.”