July 14, 2011
State budget has big impact locally Estate tax elimination, LGF cuts will affect UA operations, improvements By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Upper Arlington officials are considering how to deal with the loss of several million dollars in state funding that will result from changes in the state’s biennium budget. In addition to other changes, Ohio’s two-year budget, recently signed by the governor, calls for the elimination of the estate tax starting in January 2013, along with diminishing of Local Government Fund support. “Because we are an older, wealthier
community, we consistently receive more than $2 million a year in estate taxes,” finance director Cathe Armstrong said. “Of all the things that are happening, or have happened through the state budget, this is going to affect us the most.” Armstrong said that while estate tax revenue can be inconsistent at best for many communities, it has been a steady and reliable source of income in Upper Arlington. “In the last five years we’ve averaged $3.6 million, and in fact we’ve received over $2 million a year for the last 20 years,” she said.
Loss of local government funding will also be felt by the city in the next several years, Armstrong said. Currently the city receives about $2 million annually in Local Government Fund revenue. “The state operates on a fiscal year while we run on a calendar year, so that means with the Local Government Fund, in August we’re going to see our first reduction in that,” she said. “It’s a 25 percent reduction this year, which will affect us for August through December, and then we will have a half year of 25 percent (reduction) in 2012, with a 50 percent reduction in the last half of the
year. So as we go into 2012, it could be about a $750,000 reduction to us in our calendar year.” This loss in funding could affect how Upper Arlington funds many of its city improvements, Armstrong said. “At least for the past 15 years, the city has put the first $2.1 million (from estate tax revenues) in operating expenses, with anything over that going into our capital improvement programs, so we’re getting hit on both sides,” Armstrong said. “Our Local Government Fund revenues all go to operating expenses. “Because we are an older suburb, we’ve
Staton wins nod as new city manager By LIN RICE
See TAX, page A2
Woodcarvers fashion gift for wounded soldiers
lives and the attractiveness of
ThisWeek Community Newspapers East Lansing to prospective res-
idents and businesses.” Theodore Staton will take over Staton has served as city manfor retiring city manager Virginia ager of East Lansing, a city of Barney, following a unanimous more than 46,000 residents, since vote of approval by Upper Ar- 1995. He also served as the aslington City Council on July 11. sistant city manager of Dayton Barney intends to retire at the from 1989-1995, and before that, end of the year. Staton, current- as Dayton’s office of managely city manager of East Lansing, ment and budget director, as well Mich., anticipates a start date in as director of public works. mid-October. He holds a master’s degree in Council also public manapproved nuagement and a A closer look bachelor’s demerous items of legislation at gree in politiits last meeting Virginia Barney intends to cal science, before its sum- retire at the end of the year. both from mer break. In Theodore Staton, currently Wright State addition to ap- city manager of East LansUniversity. proving the se- ing, Mich., anticipates a “I am honlection of a start date in mid-October. ored and excitnew city maned to be joining ager, council the city of voted to accept the Lane Avenue Upper Arlington,” Staton said. Corridor Study Report submit- “While I have been open to opted by consultant AECOM, as portunities to continue my cawell as formally accepting the reer path back in my home state, Amelita Mirolo Barn from the it took a special community like Upper Arlington Community Upper Arlington to truly pique Foundation. The barn marks the my interest.” largest gift the city has ever reUnder the agreement approved ceived from either an individual by council, Staton will be paid or an entity. an annual salary of $180,000, Council president Frank Cioto- with at least a 1-percent increase la said Staton was a great choice each January, starting in 2013. for Upper Arlington. His contract also includes 200 “City council has done its due hours of vacation per calendar diligence in securing a qualified year, reimbursement for “any and experienced leader who will necessary expenses,” reimbe a great fit for our communi- bursement of temporary housty,” Ciotola said. “Ted has a ing expenses up to $6,000, acproven track record of steering cess to a city fleet vehicle, and a municipality successfully insurance provided in the Perthrough challenging financial sonnel Rules of the City for the times, while simultaneously executive class. maintaining core service stanThe complete agreement can dards and seizing upon new opSee MANAGER, page A3 portunities to enrich citizens’
got right now a seven-year capital improvement plan budgeted at $45 million. When we are getting $1.6 million a year average in cash from these programs, that takes care of a lot of streets,” she said. “Additionally we’ve been taking another $750,000 out of our general revenue and putting it into this program, and we’re not going to have the ability to put that in either, because of the $2 million-plus that we’re losing in operating revenue. “This is going to create a big hole for us.”
By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
(Right) Bill Shillington carved this eagle head cane handle in 10 hours.
Woodcarvers at the Upper Arlington Senior Center are using their craft to help wounded soldiers get around a little more easily — and in a stylish and patriotic fashion. The men, many of them veterans of past wars, had been meeting weekly to hone their woodcrafting skills when an article in Woodcarving Illustrated caught their eye, said Harry Hall. The article told the story of woodcarver Jack Nitz of Tulsa, Okla., who decided to begin carving canes with handles shaped in the image of a bald eagle and donate them to injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. “We just thought this was a really worthwhile cause,” Hall said. “We have a group of good, competent carvers, and we’re starting out trying to get at least 25 of our own made.” The men are carving the cane heads mostly of basswood, Hall said, a soft, easily worked timber with very little grain. Once the carvers have created an eagle down to the smallest detail, the cane heads are given a high finish using steel wool and polyurethane before being set on a shaft. “We want the canes to look really impressive,” Hall said, “and like I say, the gentleman who started this deserves all the credit. He had the foresight to get groups all over the country to pick up the slack.” Nitz came up with the idea in 2004, after watching a television program about wounded veterans, according to the project’s website, www.eaglecane.com. “I thought that we could carve symbolic ‘presentation’canes — not as an everyday use object, but as an artistic representation of our support and respect,” Nitz wrote for the site.
Visit www.ThisWeekNews.com for a video of the woodcarvers.
See WOODCARVERS, page A2
Photos by Eric George/ThisWeek
(Above) Paul Krivak works on an eagle head cane handle for a woodcarver group at the Upper Arlington Senior Center on July 7. The group meets on Thursday mornings at the center to work on the cane handles, which will be used on canes donated to soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Local businesses will get preference on city contracts By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Upper Arlington will soon be giving preference to local businesses in some cases when the city bids out contract work. On July 11, city council unanimously approved an ordinance that gives the edge to businesses located within the city limits when bids come in for the purpose of procuring goods and services. Durinng council’s regular conference session last week, city staff and council hammered out some of details dealing when such a preference could be given. “One of my concerns was, how do you define who the local preference would go to?” asked fi-
nance director Cathe Armstrong. “And what council decided upon, and I applaud them for, is that it must be an actual business in the city of Upper Arlington. “What we find a lot of times is that there are people who work for different companies that live here, and they feel they should have some preference because their home is here,” she said. “But that doesn’t make good economic sense if the city and the residents aren’t really benefiting from that.” The ordinance defines a local business as having its principal place of business within the corporate limits and having paid income or net profit taxes to the city in each of the last two years. Local businesses also have an opportunity to
match the lowest bidder during the contracting process. When bids are opened for a project, if the second-lowest bidder is within 2 percent of the lowest bidder, and is a local company, the former would have a chance to match that lowest bid, according to the ordinance. “That, to me, is fair, because if you don’t do that (and award the bid to a local business) you’re asking the taxpayers to pay more for the service than they need to, because there’s someone out there who will provide it at a lesser price,” Armstrong said. “If the bids are equal, the preference would go to the business within the city, but otherwise, we’d move in a different direction.” The city finance and law departments have been
working on this issue since last fall, examining other municipalities that offer a local preference to their businesses. Council members said during their conference session that while the decision would be a good gesture to Upper Arlington businesses, the situation may not come up regularly. “When you look at the makeup of our city, we just don’t have, say, someone who owns a fencing company sitting in the middle of Arlington Avenue,” council member Mary Ann Krauss said. The complete language of the legislation can be viewed on the city’s website, www.uaoh.net. lrice@thisweeknews.com www.ThisWeekNews.com