Limited Home Rule for Copley Township
page note - this issue was defeated by voters in 2022. here is the background on why i supported it.
Background
While I do not have any social media accounts, I’ve been told that there is a lot of social media posts regarding Copley Township’s November 2022 ballot issue to adopt Limited Home Rule (LHR).
It’s important that we all question our government! We all should scrutinize anything and everything the government does. With this mindset, I fully support the buzz regarding Copley’s ballot issue for LHR. Unfortunately, the limitations of social media make it difficult to fully describe and understand why LHR is good for Copley Township. That’s why I’m writing this website page; with the hope that someone will see it and then link it on social media.
Home Rule is as American as apple pie. In case you forgot, our country was founded on home rule. After years of being subjected to taxes and laws imposed by a far-away king, we declared our independence from England in 1776. It is a simple concept; people that are impacted by laws and taxes should have a say in those laws and taxes. While it seems like a stretch to compare America’s independence to Copley Limited Home Rule, the paragraphs below demonstrate that LHR can provide meaningful and positive implications for Copley residents.
Township is a Limited Form of Government
While Ohio cities enjoy a wide-range of authority over laws and rules within their boundaries, townships only have specifically enumerated powers. Some of the differences are obvious;
- Cities can control the speed limit on state/county roads within their jurisdiction, a township cannot.
- Cities can levy an income tax, a township cannot.
- Cities can impose gun restrictions, a township cannot.
To be clear - LHR will NOT enable the township to levy income taxes, impose gun restrictions or change speed limits on county and state roads. LHR will result in a limited transfer of authority on enforcement of existing laws from the state of Ohio and Summit County to Copley Township. Here are 4 examples.
Storm Water Management
Summit County is currently proposing a storm water district that will result in Copley Property owners paying approximately $700,000 per year. As a township without LHR, Copley will be forced into this district and every property owner will see an additional fee tacked onto their property taxes. This Akron Beacon Journal Article from April 8, 2022 provides the county perspective - https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/local/2022/04/08/summit-county-stormwater-district-flooding-surface-water-management-arpa-ohio/9495219002/
This is a complex subject. Here is a bullet point summary; not just the County’s take.
1. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) permit came from the Clean Water Act and resulted in the EPA requiring every community to perform a half dozen Minimum Control Measures (MCMs) to improve water quality.
2. Along with all Summit County townships, Copley’s permit has historically been co-permitted thru Summit County on a 5-year permit with the EPA.
3. Unlike townships, cities are legally permitted to handle their own MS4s.
4. Since MS4 became a requirement, Copley handled a few of the requirements & Summit County did the rest. In 2021, Copley agreed to pay Summit County $9,273.96 for five years (2021 to 2025). See Copley Township Resolution 2021-20 dated March 23, 2021.
5. The Ohio EPA has told Summit County they are not addressing the MCMs to the EPA’s satisfaction. In response Summit County has proposed legislation that will spread a fee to every parcel of real estate in every township in the county plus a few small villages that have opted in. The initial fee for Copley landowners would total just under $700,000.
6. You read that right - Copley currently pays less than $2,000 per year from existing revenue and now Summit County is proposing that we pay about $700,000 per year with a fee added to your property taxes.
7. To get townships to buy-in, Summit County is providing $18.8 million, most of which is federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, to build some storm water improvements up front. The start-up funds are a classic “honey pot”; upfront satisfaction that you pay for the rest of your life. Under the county plan, Copley will receive $1.6 million for 2 storm water improvement projects. If the $18.8 million start-up money was divided based on population, Copley would receive $2.5 million. In other words, Copley gets short changed on the “honey pot” of up-front money.
8. From Copley's perspective, there are several issues with Summit County's proposed legislation;
- While the cost of the 2 proposed Copley projects are less than 3 years of the taxes, Copley landowners would continue to pay the $700,000ish tax every year; for infinity.
- Beyond the initial projects, there is no guarantee that any taxes paid by Copley landowners will be used in Copley or even in our watershed.
- Our watershed partners (Barberton & Norton) are cities and not part of the plan.
9. While we have no vote on this legislation, we informed the County that we may pursue LHR and attempt to opt out of their plan. As we wait for your vote on LHR, we requested Summit County amend their legislation to provide for;
- A community set-aside so that at least 25% of the funds from Copley Township will be spent in the Township,
- A method to score proposed future projects to ensure the remaining pool of funds is spent fairly across all communities, and
- Limit the amount of funds that can be used for “administration” (the obvious concern is that all the taxes eventually become gravy for the county).
Absent these or other controls, history indicates that Copley's tax dollars will be spent in other communities. For reference, on a basis of population, Copley is easily the largest township and the 7th largest community in the county (6 cities are larger). Nevertheless;
- Summit County Metro Parks has 16 parks and 150 miles of trails – none in Copley.
- Akron-Summit County Library has 19 branches – none in Copley.
10. To be clear, with the EPA demanding incremental action, the days of Copley paying less than $2,000 per year are gone. It is our hope that LHR provides us the leverage to ensure that Summit County does not disadvantage Copley in the implementation of the county wide plan. In the alternative, if the County disadvantages Copley and we are forced to form our own storm sewer district, there would still be a increase in tax on Copley landowners; but the amount of the tax would likely decrease and all the revenue would be under local control and spent in Copley.
Authority to Supply Water and Sanitary Sewer Services
As mentioned in the Storm Water Management section above, Section 504.04(A)(3) of the Ohio Revised Code, provides a township electing LHR the authority to supply water and sewer service to users within the Township.
While some portions of the Township are currently serviced by Akron or Summit County, a large percentage of Copley is not currently served with sanitary sewer or drinking water. In 1994 the Township entered into the JEDD agreement with Akron to provide these services to a portion of the Township. 28 years later, major portions of the JEDD territory still do not benefit from sanitary sewer and/or water.
LHR creates several other options for Copley to facilitate water supply and sewer services.
Property Maintenance Code
In 2017, Copley Township adopted a Property Maintenance Code to protect the public health, safety, prosperity, or general welfare as it pertains to areas, premises, and buildings. The Copley Township Code Enforcement Officer, uses the code primarily to work with property owners on the exterior upkeep and maintenance of their property. Annually the Township handles over 100 cases; most of which are a result of complaints received from residents. Only about 60% of cases each year are closed leaving 40-50 properties still in violation after a year. Addressing on-going violations remains difficult; there is one employee tasked with enforcing the Property Maintenance Code who currently cannot issue civil fines.
Since the township cannot issue small civil fines, there is no intermediate step. Therefore, in order to address long-standing property maintenance issues, we have to go straight into the legal system; incurring legal fees and other costs that we all pay for out of our tax dollars.
Consider this. When a resident gets a speeding ticket, the rest of the community doesn’t pay the fine. But when a resident doesn’t maintain their property, the rest of the community does pay!
If LHR is enacted, Ohio Revised Code 504.05 would allow the Board of Trustees to impose a civil fine for a violation of a resolution adopted, and may graduate the amount of the fine based on the number of previous violations of the resolution (No fine shall exceed one thousand dollars). We believe this will greatly improve the effectiveness in addressing violations which will improve public health and safety within our residential and commercial areas, as well as maintaining property values. The ability to issue fines will likely decrease the need for Township dollars to be expended resolving on-going violations due to quicker compliance by the property owner. This procedure would not be unique to Copley Township and is a method that is commonly used, and used effectively throughout the state.
Personally, I am always concerned about government overreach. But we shouldn’t call the Township seeking action on an unkept property and then not give the Township the tools to address the issue.
Summit Soil and Water
Summit Soil and Water Conservation District (SSW) provides meaningful and necessary enforcement of EPA, agriculture and natural resource regulations. For example, SSW has authority over erosion and sediment control needs at construction sites. Any Copley landowner that has disturbed the soil of their property has likely been subjected to SSW rules, review and enforcement. Whenever you see silt fences around construction sites or water retention ponds, you should think of SSW. Anyone that knows me will tell you I’m a tree-hugger at heart and, therefore, I’m very supportive of the SSW mission.
However, in my opinion, Copley has seen several instances of overly aggressive enforcement by SSW. SSW’s overly-broad interpretation of the regulations coupled with their over-zealous enforcement have resulted in entire parcels of land having no beneficial use or value; yet they still get to pay property taxes! Copley landowners told me that a person from SSW drove by their property, got out of their vehicle and confronted them for cleaning out a drainage ditch. While I understand that this sounds like paranoia, the fact is that if you own property that has a riparian area or is partly in a flood plain (that’s a big part of our Township), they are monitoring you.
IF LHR is enacted, the Township can choose who enforces these regulations; giving the Township the ability to stop overly aggressive enforcement; restoring a balance of conservation with responsible land use.
Conclusion
The populations of Ohio townships range from less than 100 to over 60,000 people. For reference, a friend of mine is the ONLY fulltime employee of a thinly populated township down in Amish country. My friend handles all road duties as well as administration. 2 of 3 trustees spend winters in Florida and that township depends on neighboring communities for fire and the county for law enforcement and everything else. Only one township employee obviously wouldn’t work well in Copley with many more buildings, roads and over 18,000 residents. Simply put, as a township grows, the needs of the community changes. Larger townships often elect LHR or become cities.
There are dozens of LHR townships in Ohio. Stark County has several; including Jackson, Perry and Plain townships. Summit County currently doesn’t have any LHR townships as jurisdictions seeking more local control became cities with income taxes; and as a CPA I’m never in favor of that.
While the Ohio Revised Code permits townships with populations exceeding 15,000, such as Copley, to adopt LHR without asking voters, that’s not how we roll. Voters like you will decide LHR this November. Be informed and vote wisely.