Weathersfield begins service cuts while bracing for funding losses

April 15, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

MINERAL RIDGE

Weathersfield Township trustees have started curtailing some services in anticipation of funding cuts under a new state budget.

Trustees expect losses of tax revenue totaling $432,323 from Local Government funds, tangible personal property taxes and public utiliies taxes, clerk Fred Bobovnyk said.

Bobovnyk said the information from Columbus and from the Ohio Township Association has been confusing at best.

Nothing is definite yet, he said. The Ohio House is still having hearings on a new budget, which it must pass and then be moved to the Senate for approval. The budget has to be in place by July.

Bobovnyk said the township has a $1.915 million budget for 2011, and he is expecting a cut of $74,453.36 over the next two fiscal years in Local Government funds: 25 percent in each of the two fiscal years.

The township also will lose a total $308,871 in personal tangible property taxes from 2011 to 2018, at a rate of $38,301 a year.

Public-utility taxes, which are collected by Trumbull County and then reimbursed to the township by the state, are expected to be cut by $146,729 at a rate of $48,999 a year.

Meanwhile, the township is making changes in anticipation of those cuts, including: No street sweeping this year; tree-limb pickup and grinding will be limited to the first and third Fridays instead of every Friday; no mosquito spraying this year.

Trustee chairman James Stoddard said that though it is true that Gov. John Kasich has to make cuts to balance the state budget, “I don’t like what he’s doing to townships in particular. It’s like they’re trying to put them out of business.”

Stoddard noted larger townships will feel the budget ax much worse than a small township like Weathersfield.

In other business, the new “Are You Ok?” program developed by police Chief Joseph Consiglio is being started. Anyone interested in applying should call the police department. Those who are eligible: resident of the township 60 years of age or older; those with a medical or mental disability; shut-ins or those who are wheelchair bound; those with a possibility of a medical emergency.

Consiglio said the program will apply mostly to people who don’t have family in the area to help them.

Trustees also awarded a contract to upgrade Seaborn Street for safety to Foust Construction of Youngstown at a bid of $125,044. The total project cost, including engineering, is projected to cost $146,554 and an Ohio Public Works Commission grant will pay $123,097. The township’s share is $23,447.

Trustees also want three properties placed in the Trumbull County Land Bank, including 1473 Salt Springs Road; 3410 McDonald Ave. and 1594 Laurel St. The properties have been demolished and by being accepted into the land bank the county will obtain titles for the land and attempt to sell the land to adjoining residents so that the township can recoup its costs for demolishing the properties.

Trustees also announced spring cleanup in the township will be May 2-6.