July 14, 2011
Ad hoc committee
Tax hike, compensation cuts advised By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers A five-member ad hoc committee recommended to Reynoldsburg City Council July 11 that an income tax increase of 1 percent should be placed on the November ballot to help plug anticipated holes in the city’s budget. Before that happens, however, the group said the city needs to reduce expenditures and council should prepare a list of cuts before presenting any tax increase to the voters.
Areas likely to be targeted include employee and city council health insurance benefits and employee compensation, committee chairman Brad Sprague said. “Most of those cuts fall in the area of employee benefits,” he said. “The committee feels the benefit packages are rich and that they ought to be brought more in line with what you might see in the private sector.” He said the committee is not recommending any specific departments or services for cuts, but if expenditures are
not reduced and revenue increased, the city will face programmatic cuts. Council’s finance committee will discuss the recommendations at its July 18 meeting at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 7232 E. Main St. Council President Bill Hills said if council decides to pursue a tax increase on the November ballot, a resolution to do so must be adopted by July 25 in order to meet the Aug. 10 filing deadline with the Franklin County Board of Elections. The ad hoc committee, appointed by city council, has been meeting weekly
since June 7 to review how the city can cover a projected loss of $1.7 million over the next four years, based on calculations of the state budget. Sprague said Monday the committee concluded a “structural imbalance” exists in the city’s general operating fund and general capital improvement fund budgets. “The first thing we tried to determine was whether we thought the city of Reynoldsburg was facing a short-term financial problem based on current economic conditions, or what we call a struc-
tural imbalance,” Sprague said. In a memo to council, he said a structural imbalance occurs when currentyear expenditures exceed current-year revenue on a recurring basis and is expected to continue into the future. This is different from a temporary deficit that may occur during a time of economic stagnation or recession, or when expenditure or revenue patterns are temporarily affected by one-time events, he said. See TAX HIKE, page A5
Board gives FARMERS MARKET OPENS Dackin $25K raise to stay in Reynoldsburg By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers The Reynoldsburg Board of Education was so concerned that Superintendent Steve Dackin would leave the district for a job as Ohio’s new state superintendent that members made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Until Sunday, July 10, Dackin was one of two finalists for the job. He had been among three announced candidates. Gov. John Kasich’s education adviser, Robert Sommers, ended his bid in mid-June, saying he had been told that Ohio ethics laws would prevent him from taking the post. The board interviewed the remaining candidate, Robert E. Schiller, a Florida-based education Steve Dackin consultant, for three hours July 11, then announced on Tuesday, July 12, it had named Stan W. Heffner to the post. Heffner has been the interim state superintendent since May 1 and had not applied for the job to replace Deborah DeLisle, who resigned in April. Heffner was scheduled to take a job with Education Testing Service in Texas in August. Acting Reynoldsburg Board of Education President Andy Swope said the board approached Dackin on Saturday, July 9, with an offer for a $25,000 salary increase, which he accepted. As a result, the board of education held an emergency meeting at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, July 11, to approve Dackin’s new base salary, effective Aug. 1. Swope said the decision to offer Dackin more money was made after it became likely he might get the state job. In addition, he said, board members thought keeping him in Reynoldsburg, if possible, would be a better option for the district as a whole.
Photos by Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
(Above) Casey Redmond performs during the opening day of the Reynoldsburg Farmers Market on July 7. The market will be held every Thursday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. through Sept. 29 at Huber Park. (Left) Luke Ting sniffs the tomatoes at the Wishwell Farms stand. (Below) Jim Smith looks over the produce at the Wishwell Farms stand.
See DACKIN, page A4
‘Adopt-A-Spot’
City launches program to help clean up BriceLivingston area City looks to secure salt prices for winter By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
City development officials hope a new “Adopt-ASpot” program will be instrumental in sprucing up the Brice Road and East Livingston Avenue corridors. City planning administrator Matt Hansen said the program is a strategy devised as a part of the development department’s Brice and Livingston Strategic Area Plan that was finalized in 2009. “People want to get involved in their community and this is just a means to do so,” he said. “We’d like to have greater involvement from residents in the Brice and Livingston area because it has a lot of potential. See CITY LAUNCHES, page A2
By DAVID S. OWEN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Reynoldsburg City Council agreed unanimously July 11 to approve emergency legislation authorizing Mayor Brad McCloud to enter into a contract with Cargill Inc. for 3,000 tons of road salt for 2012 at a cost of $60.23 per ton. That’s a price increase of $1.25 per ton from this year’s price. Director of public service Jim Miller said passing the legislation now will guarantee the price and delivery of the salt for next year. Otherwise, he said, the city would have to pay “whatever the going rate is at the time.”
“If I buy salt in the winter, it’s going to cost me an arm and a leg,” Miller said. “It will go up. I have no idea to what — it’s kind of like you’re always going to spend more money on a snowmobile if you’re buying it in December versus if you’re buying it in July.” Reynoldsburg’s two salt barns combined hold 3,000 tons. Miller said the city has approximately 1,500 tons on hand. On average, it can use up to 2,000 tons or more during any given winter, he said. He said the city will buy an additional 1,500 tons this year at the current rate of $58.98 per ton, a price secured by contract last year, in anticipation of keeping the salt barns full going
into the next winter season. The total cost of purchasing 3,000 tons of salt under the new contract is $180,690. Miller said that money has been included in the city’s 2012 budget. “Prices for road salt have been increasing due to fuel costs and other market variations in the material itself and its distribution,” he said. “Our objective is to always keep our salt barns full of salt at the lowest cost per ton possible.” In other business Monday, council approved legislation authorizing the purchase of two See SALT, page A4