June 16, 2011
School board considers $158.5M budget District would spend $8.06 million more in 2011-12 than in 2010-11 By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Under a proposed budget presented during a school board retreat June 13, the Westerville City School District could spend $8.06 million more in the 20112012 school year than it did in the previous school year. The district’s administration presented the board with a $158.5-million budget during the retreat. That compares to a $150.4-million budget for the 2010-
2011 school year. While expenditures increase, the proposed budget shows a drop in revenue for the 2011-2012 school year, from $151.1 million to $146.3 million. That means if the budget were approved as-is, the district would spend $12.2 million more than it expects to take in through state funding and taxes. Despite the deficit, the district would end the year with a $113,798 cash balance, thanks to an expected $12.3-million surplus at the end of this fiscal year.
However, if spending continued to increase at a similar rate and no new revenues were created, the district would be $19.3 million short of expenditures at the end of fiscal year 2013. “That would be a problem in my checkbook,” board member Cindy Crowe said. In the biggest line item for the district, personal services — which includes employee salaries — the proposed budget shows a 4.7-percent increase in spending between fiscal year 2011 and fiscal
year 2012, with $96.4 million being spent in the next fiscal year. Personal services cost the district $91.8 million in fiscal year 2011. Superintendent Dan Good said that is with a reduction in staff of eight positions, saving the district $650,000. He said those savings were made through attrition and by shuffling teaching assignments to make sure all areas were covered with fewer staff members. “We’ve been able to reduce through attrition. We’re not reducing any particu-
lar person,” Good said. Retirement and fringe benefits would rise from $30.5 million to $33 million under the proposed budget. Purchased services would increase by $1.5 million, from $21.5 million to $23 million, an amount district officials said is largely driven by increases in the number of students with special needs and the severity of those needs. To save money, the district plans to See $158M BUDGET, page A2
Westerville Square Walmart moves on to council By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Otterbein Dumpster Dive
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
Nikolai Rivas rummages through items left behind by other Otterbein University students on the campus. Students and staff members volunteered on June 8 to collect and sort items as part of the school’s annual Dumpster Dive for Charity. The items then were donated to various charities.
Council OKs 2-tier water-rate increase By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Westerville water customers soon will see higher bills. Westerville City Council approved a twotier water rate increase at its June 7 meeting. Rates first will increase in July and then again in January. The bill for the average residential water customer will go up from the current $14.84 per month to $15.54 per month in July and to $16.59 in January. The minimum monthly charge for water usage, which affects 15 percent of Westerville water customers, will go from the current $4.65 to $4.80 in July and to $4.90 in January. Water rates will rise from $2.12 per cubic
foot consumed to $2.22 in July and $2.37 in January for the first 1,500 cubic feet of usage. Rates will increase from $1.52 per cubic foot to $1.61 in July and $1.73 in January for the next 8,500 cubic feet of usage and from 92 cents per cubic foot to 99 cents in July and to $1.07 in January for usage volumes totaling more than 10,000 cubic feet. The increases will boost the water fund’s revenue by 5.3 percent in July and by 7.2 percent in January. The additional revenue will help pay for increases in operating costs and maintenance for Westerville’s aging water system, city officials said. Westerville has raised water rates only three times in the last 20 years, said water utility manager Dick Lorenz. Even with these increases, its water rates will remain well below those charged in other central Ohio
communities, he said. In Columbus, 7 cubic feet of usage, which is how much the average Westerville customer uses, costs residents about $23 a month, according to numbers Lorenz presented to council. That would cost $30 a month for New Albany water customers and about $31 for Delco or Worthington water customers. “We have a quality product at a quality price,” Lorenz told council. Within the next two years, the city also will have to make a $6-million investment in its water treatment facility to keep up with changes in Environmental Protection Agency regulations, city manager Dave Collinsworth said. Collinsworth previously told council that this round of water-rate hikes will not cover the costs of those improvements.
Westerville City Council had its first discussion June 7 on a proposed Westerville Square redevelopment that includes construction of a Walmart. Council heard the first reading of legislation to accept modifications to the development plan for the site at the northeast corner of East Schrock Road and South State Street. Council will hear a second reading of the site-plan modification at its June 21 meeting. There will be a public hearing on the plans at council’s July 5 meeting, likely followed by a vote. In April, the Westerville Planning Commission voted to declare renovation plans by Westerville Square owner The Hadler Cos. a major modification, meaning city council must vote on whether to approve them. The company plans to tear down three storefronts in the 159,801square-foot center to construct a 108,000-square-foot Walmart. The remainder of the shopping center would be renovated to match to newly constructed Walmart, with brick facade, brick columns, dormer windows and parapets at the corners of the center. The parking lot would be upgraded with more landscaping, greenspace with public art and seating on South State Streets and brick walls along South State Street and Otterbein Avenue. The center would gain just under 18,000 square feet, but Walmart would take up 60 percent of the center. The original development plan for Westerville Square was ap-
Hadler slates July 5 open house The Hadler Cos. has planned a weekend of open houses to share its renovation plans for the Westerville Square shopping center with the public. The open houses come ahead of a scheduled July 5 public hearing and a vote by Westerville City Council on whether to allow the renovations, which include plans to tear down three storefronts in order to construct a 108,000square-foot Walmart. Open houses are scheduled from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 17, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. June 18 and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. June 19 in the vacant storefront at 14 Westerville Square, which faces South State Street. During the open houses, the company will show renderings of its plans for the shopping center, and company representatives will be on hand to answer questions. See OPEN HOUSE, page A2 proved by the city in 1968 under the condition that any future changes for the site meet city approval. That plan called for a large commercial center with small- to medium-size commercial tenants surrounded by parking. “The plan they adopted at the time is largely what they have See WALMART, page A2
Benjamin Hanby’s songs played role in Civil War By JENNIFER NESBITT
known by southern and northern troops, was a favorite of William Tecumseh Sherman and was often Editor’s note: This story is the first song by slaves, according to Dacia in a series highlighting Westerville’s Custer Shoemaker’s book on the role in the Civil War, as the city plans Hanby family, “Choose You This to mark the war’s 150th anniversary. Day.” The song was one of the first writAs a minister and pacifist, Benings to portray a slave’s joy at the jamin Hanby, once a Westerville thought of coming freedom, Shoeresident, was exempted from service maker wrote, and also was one of the in the Union Army during the Civil first to use the dialect of southern War. blacks. That didn’t keep Hanby, the famed Even after the Civil War, the song writer of “Up on the Housetop,” out of was used in minstrel shows, in paromen to sign up for service in the army. dies for elections and to help raise the fight. Encouraged by tales of runaway The composer, whose “Darling money for Ulysses Grant’s tomb in slaves showing up at Union Army Nelly Gray” already had earned him New York City, according to Shoecamps in search of freedom, Hanby fame across the country, also penned maker. songs encouraging slaves to flee north wrote “Ole Shady, the Song of the In 1863, as Ohio was struggling to Contraband.” The song was well to freedom and encouraging Ohio’s find recruits to serve with the National
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Guard, then-Gov. John Brough issued a call for men to serve for 100 days. In support of those efforts, Hanby wrote “Terrible Tough!” as a dialogue between a potential recruit and Brough. The recruit argues that service is too hard before turning around at the end of the song to concede that he will serve. Before the war, Hanby wrote “Darling Nelly Gray,” chronicling the story of Joe Selby, a slave who sought refuge in the Hanby’s Rushville home on his way north to Canada. According to the most common
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version of the story, Selby told members of the Hanby family about his sweetheart, Nelly Gray, who had been sold to a faraway plantation. Selby sought to make it north to Canada to earn enough money to buy Nelly’s freedom, but instead, Selby died of exposure at the Hanby home. Hanby is said to have written verses of the song in his younger days while teaching in Rushville, said Hanby House site manager Pam Allen, before finishing the song and submitting it for publication years See BENJAMIN HANBY, page A2
Cheryl is one of many cats up for adoption at the Cat Welfare Association. On Tuesday, June 21, the association will hold its Summer Solstice Adoption Extravaganza, which will feature food and special adoption rates. For information on adopting Cheryl or any of the cats, visit catwelfareohio.com. Watch a video of Cheryl at ThisWeekNews.com.