6/28/2012 - West Side Leader
     

During the June 21 meeting, the Richfield Township Board of Trustees approved the use of money from the General Fund for several upcoming road projects.

Fiscal Officer Laurie Pinney said the money would pay for a 2-ton KL International asphalt trailer for slightly less than $12,700 and the repair of two roads by Lytle Construction: chip and seal work on Whitethorn Circle at a cost of $13,872, and a motor pave on Farnham Road at a cost of $25,145.

According to Pinney, the township had about $1.2 million in the General Fund as of June 7.

“The four funds that contribute to road and service projects … total less than $27,000,” she told the trustees. “With any of these approvals, you had not specifically said what funds you wanted any of those paid from. That’s something that the auditor has kind of always pushed on, that when the township spends money, you ought to know where and how the money’s coming from. It’s pretty obvious to me that the money’s not coming from any of the road funds, just given our balances. It’s pretty clear to me that you would intend for that to be General Fund money.”

Also during the meeting, the trustees agreed to apply for a grant through the Ohio Public Works Commission for half of the $330,000 needed to resurface Hawkins Road.

“It’s a 50-50 split for paving Hawkins Road,” Pinney said. “We need to earmark where our share, which would be $165,000, would come from. From looking at these amounts, it’s pretty clear that would come from the General Fund.”

Township Administrator Linda Bowmer said the township will find out this fall whether it will be awarded the grant. However, she explained, the step of identifying which fund would provide the township’s portion of the repairs was necessary “so that the resolution could be signed by the fiscal officer certifying the availability of funds. [We need to] pass that to the Summit County Engineer’s Office to include as an exhibit in the grant, which is due June 30.”

In other business:

• Bowmer said township officials are hopeful residents will pass a road levy issue on the Aug. 7 Special Election ballot.

“We have a road and bridge levy, 2.3 mills, because we need additional funds to handle road work,” Bowmer said. “But, as you can see, we do apply for grants to try to supplement the money in the road and bridge fund.”

Bowmer said the tax levy is a “replacement with an addition.”

“It’s going from 1.3 mills to 2.3 mills,” she explained.

Trustee Vice Chairman Dave Wyatt said a simple renewal at the 1.3-mill rate would leave the township under-funded.

According to language certified by Summit County Fiscal Officer Kristen Scalise, the levy, if approved, would generate an estimated $322,042 in property tax revenue.

“Just a renewal would generate less money than we’re getting now, and we need more to pay for the day-to-day expenses,” Wyatt said. “This doesn’t even cover projects — it’s for day-to-day expenses.”

• Pinney said she is working on the township’s budget for 2013.

“It is due to the county fiscal office by July 20,” she told trustees. “So I’ll be presenting some of those materials to you probably at your first meeting on July 5, and you’ll have a final budget on July 19.”

The next Richfield Township Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for July 5 at 10 a.m. at the township offices, located behind the fire station on West Streetsboro Road.

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