City Council Report

By Dottie McGrew

2007 City Budget
It is likely council will approve the official 2007 budget by mid-February. The city is currently operating on an interim budget.

Council’s Finance Committee has been tweaking the $36 million budget submitted in November by the administration. Chairman Pat DeOrio estimated “savings in the neighborhood of $500,000.”

Under the “bare bones” budget of 2007, there will be fewer capital projects, less street
maintenance and vacancies will not be filled when employees retire or resign.

“No one is happy about this – not council, not the administration and certainly not our dedicated employees who set the bar for service very high,” DeOrio said. “But there is no other way around it. Seventy percent of the budget is payroll. We have less money, so fewer capital projects can be done. We can’t grow money on dogwood trees. We hope people want to hear the truth.

“The truth is that even though the Hoover plant remains open, the revenue stream to the city is down by 75 percent because there are 75 percent fewer Hoover employees,” DeOrio said.

He is calling on fellow council members to stand with the administration and the Finance Committee. “This is not the time to play political games and run for cover.”

DeOrio offered a thin ray of hope. “If things stabilize across the street,” he said, referring to Hoover, “we can always undo what we have put in place.”

But, for the present, fiscal responsibility is the watchword.

Out of Plain Township
After a lengthy marriage, the city of North Canton and Plain Township have split. Stark County Commissioners approved the separation as required by law.

The city now has its own digs – a paper entity named Hoover Township.

Council has talked about leaving Plain Township over the years. Councilman at-large Pat DeOrio added momentum during discussions of the 2006 budget when he noted that if the city were not in the township, North Canton could keep $36,000 in inside millage property taxes each year. As part of Hoover Township, the city will begin to receive the revenue in 2008. The figure will increase as development increases in the city.

North Canton residents will see little change. City residents will no longer vote in township elections, a circumstance that does not bother township officials who have expressed concern that North Canton voters could potentially change the outcome of township races. Residents did not vote on township taxes nor did they pay them, except for inside millage.

But Hoover Township will not include city areas subject to cooperative economic development agreements with the township. The Sanctuary on Applegrove Road, for example, will be in the city and the city school district but not in Hoover Township because of a CEDA agreed to by the township and the city. Property taxes from The Sanctuary will go to Plain Township. Income tax from residents of The Sanctuary will go to the city, if residents do not pay those taxes where they are employed. The city will be responsible for maintaining streets in The Sanctuary and providing safety services to residents.

Recall
Brett Reed says he will continue to circulate petitions to recall Councilman-at-large Jim Repace in hopes of placing the issue on the ballot. He needs 1,500 signatures.

Mayor David Held, city council and many others have urged Reed to drop the recall effort because of the expense to the city and the fact that all council members will be on the November ballot.

The recall petition alleges that Repace violated Ohio’s open-meeting laws by admittedly meeting privately with Jackson Township officials, that he tried to have his son hired by the city and that he failed to act in the best interests of the city.

Repace denies the allegations.