CONCORD TOWNSHIP – Officials with Concord Township continued to express their opposition to a proposed state constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes during a Wednesday, March 4, meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Trustee Amy Lucci said she’d attended a Wednesday, Feb. 25, presentation at Riverside High School by Treasurer Michael Zuren on the topic, outlining how it would affect local services mostly reliant for funding on property taxes.
She said she and the rest of the board are in favor or reforming property taxes, but “completely against” their abolition, saying the state can’t absorb the $24 billion in lost revenues that would “devastate” small communities such as Concord.
Replacements proposed by abolition advocates and at Zuren’s presentation would still come from taxpayers and none of them are as revenue-stable as property taxes, she said.
Suggestions that small communities should merge or incorporate; or that school districts should consolidate to reduce administrative overhead, would lead to a loss of autonomy and a direct line with local elected leaders, according to Lucci, as well as diluted services and unfair tax burden shifts.
Township Administrator Andy Rose said he is still receiving calls almost daily on the proposal, which he uses as a chance to correct misinformation and disinformation being spread on social media platforms.
In other business
Fiscal Officer John Patriarca reported the townships’ funds balance, as of Saturday, Feb. 28, at just under $9 million, with $489,000 set aside for specific projects. Year-to-date expenditures were $1.7 million and revenues were $1.8 million – including a $1.1 million advance payment of tax receipts from the Auditor’s Office.
In legislation
• Appointing Madison Township Trustee Thomas Sill as a member of the 911 Program Review Committee.
Approving a purchase order in the amount of $6,330 to Alert-All for public education materials.
• Appointing Firefighter I Cody Bendlock to Firefighter/Paramedic, effective Sunday, March 1.
• Appointing Firefighter/Paramedic Daniel Zdraveff to Firefighter I, effective Sunday, March 29.
• Appointing Firefighter/Paramedic Jake Green to Firefighter I, effective Sunday, March 29.
In administrative reports
Rose told the board that all funding paperwork for the Fire Station No. 2 project has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and that new construction drawings and funding information are the only things left to complete before the project can go out for bids.
Board Chair Carl Donrfer said he’d been at a recent meeting with the fire station project owner’s representative regarding moving firefighters at Station No. 2 to temporary housing while work is underway.
He said the hope is for the project to go to bid in May, with excavation to start by June. The project has a 14-to-16-month timeframe, with it hopefully finished during late spring 2027.
Fire Chief Matt Sabo said crews responded to 236 calls during February, with 159 emergency medical calls – 128 of which involved patient transport to local hospitals.
Firefighters dealt with 77 nonmedical calls, including six fires inside the township, including a building fire, a chimney fire and a trash fire. They also responded to two structure fires outside Concord Township, according to Sabo.
The Concord Township Fire Department rendered mutual aid 19 times during the month and received it eight times. There were 89 instances of overlapping calls, or about 37 percent of overall call volume, according to Sabo.
Service Director Tim Brown’s report was read by Rose, as he was out of town.
Road crews conducted nine callouts for snow and ice during February, during which they used 315 tons of road salt. Workers also conducted equipment maintenance and temporary pathing of some of the more “egregious” potholes, according to Rose.
Trustee John Wiertel praised the work snowplow crews have done during a winter that reportedly involved 100 inches of snowfall.
“They did a darn good job,” he said.
Wiertel said he’s fielded some calls s from residents concerned about the salt shortage this winter, stating that the normal applied rate for road salt is between 100-500 pounds per lane mile.
He said Concord Township uses 200 and only salts intersections, curbs and hills, and so never ran out this winter, while keeping roads safe for residents.
Prior to adjourning, the board moved into executive session to confer with legal counsel regarding imminent litigation.
The next regular session meeting of the Concord Township Board of Trustees is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, 7229 Ravenna Road.
