In 2019, the year before I took office as a Trustee, Copley's total Appropriation Budget was $15,350,628. While the initially proposed 2020 budget already had reductions, we had several intense discussions aimed at reducing expenses and balancing our budget. This resulted in $1,296,453 million being trimmed from the initial budget.

These balanced budgets not only include paying for current operating expenses, it also includes Capital Budgeting; which sets aside money to pay for major purchases that will occur in future years. So, when an ambulance needs to be replaced in the future, the money will be there. Since I’ve been a Trustee, each department has prepared a Capital Budget; something that previously hadn’t been done. We look at the age, expected life and replacement cost of all major pieces of equipment and then determine how much is needed to be set aside every year to fund the future replacements of major items; fire trucks, ambulances, snowplows, etc. As of 2023, the Fire and Police departments are fully reserved for the replacement of all future equipment needs. Unfortunately, the Service department is not adequately reserved to handle future purchase of equipment and vehicles. We are still working out of a huge deficit from when the road levy was reduced from 3.3 mils to 2.5 mils; but we have a plan. ;-)

Trimming costs, balancing operating budgets and capital planning has resulted in Copley’s total fund balances increasing back to safe levels. In summary, since my election in 2019 we have been able to make the Township financially stable again. This solid financial position provides the base for us to make improvements to our Township. That’s why sanitary sewer projects, pedestrian pathways, a new safety center, a community center and other improvements are finally happening (see Infrastructure and Amenities below).

Thanks to this year’s county wide average 31.4% increase in property valuations, there has been a lot of chatter about property taxes going up. While that may be the case elsewhere, we have already taken measures to control your property taxes. Here is the background.

Ohio requires a full reappraisal of real property every six years (last happened in 2020) as well as a triennial update every three years between the reappraisal cycle (the 31.4% average increase happening now). In other words, the county adjusts your property value every three years. However, for voted levies, a change in the value of real property will not increase your property tax until the levy is replaced. Therefore, for voted levies, 2 things must happen;

1.) The property value goes up (which happens every 3 years) and

2.) The taxpayers need to vote to approve the incremental taxes related to the property value going up.

For example, Copley voters approved the 2.5 mil Road levy to collect about $1.5 million in tax. Copley did not approve 2.5 mils of whatever the value of property was increased to. Without an election, Copley would continue to collect the same $1.5 million after the 31.4% bump in valuation as it did in prior years.

Since property values go up every 3 years, many jurisdictions have levies that expire every 3 years; enabling them to capture additional tax on the increased property valuation. Prior to 2021, Copley Township did exactly that. Historically Copley had the 3-year road levy, a 3-year fire levy, and a 3-year police levy. Every 3 years each of these 3 levies would be on the November ballot. And since these levies are used to pay for everyday expenses of running these operations, taxpayers were effectively given the following tough choice; (a) turn down the levy and eliminate significant portions of police, fire or road service, or (b) approve the replacement levy that contained a tax increase related to property values increasing. That wasn’t a real choice and therefore the levies were always approved. Again, Copley wasn’t unique as many other jurisdictions still force voters into this crappy choice.

After my election in 2019, I put an end to the madness. Rather than replace the 3-year levies on the ballot, in November of 2020 and 2021 we put continuous levies on the ballot; making everything permanent. Follow this link to see the article I wrote back in 2020 - https://www.akron.com/articles/copley-trustee-asking-voters-to-approve-levies/ . The result is that there are no more “built-in” increases related to property valuation changes; the $1.5 million that Copley collects from the road levy will not increase just because your property value went up 31.4%.

In fairness, inflation and cost of living increases catch up to everybody; including the government. Because of that, at some point the Township will eventually need to come back to the voters. When that happens, if we vote no on the levy, we are only saying no to the tax increase; turning down the replacement wouldn’t impact the tax already being collected. Without the threat of losing most of these services, this becomes a true choice.

Limiting property tax increases wasn’t the only reason to make all of the Township’s levies permanent. When it came time to build the new Safety Center (see infrastructure results on this website), I understood that would mean issuing debt. Issuing debt means interest expense. Interest rates are dependent on how strong the Township is financially. By locking in all revenue with permanent levies, the Township is more credit worthy. The combination of making all Township levies permanent, coupled with balanced budgets and improved cash reserves, enabled us to get a very high credit rating when we met with the credit rating agencies in April 2023. This allowed us to secure lower interest rates; helping to keep the construction cost of the new safety center under budget.

Since we have built our cash reserves back to proper levels, we need to make sure that money is working for us and that we minimize bank fees. The Township had been with the same bank for decades and sometimes old relationships need to be changed. In 2021, we requested banking proposals and ended up switching banks. While interest rates are variable, the Township is earning substantially more after bank fees than we did prior to the change in banks. For example, in August of 2023 we earned over $72,000 in interest income; more than double what we would have earned with the prior bank.

Copley Township has shared the cost of 911 dispatch and IT services with Norton, Barberton and Springfield for many years. The organization is named the Southwest Summit Council of Governments - SWSCOG - and was formed in 2013. Joining with other communities to share in dispatch and IT services saves each community substantial dollars. It makes good sense and there are several joint dispatch centers throughout Ohio.

What doesn’t make sense is how the common costs of SWSCOG have been split amongst the 4 communities. The obvious choice for distributing the cost of a joint dispatch center is based on who uses it; in other words call volume. Since staffing levels and equipment costs are driven by call volume, call volume is the only rationale method to split the costs back to each community and that is the method used by almost every other joint dispatch center in the state of Ohio. If one community is responsible for 47% of the call volume, then that community should pay 47% of the cost. It is common sense.

Unfortunately, that’s NOT how SWSCOG splits the costs. Instead SWSCOG has always split the cost based on 3 factors; property valuation, population and call volume. Since Copley has relatively newer housing stock and newer commercial property, we pay more. A lot more. The irony is that newer buildings are safer so we should pay less! Perhaps this is the best way to explain it -

• When someone in Copley calls 911, Copley gets charged $39 per call.

• When someone from Barberton calls 911, Barberton gets charged $19.80 per call.

• So Barberton pays 50% of what Copley pays for calling the exact same 911 operator!

This craziness has resulted in Copley paying way too much; effectively subsidizing the other communities. For 2021, Copley paid roughly $185,000 to much. This is our 10th year in SWSCOG. 10 years * $185,000 = holy crap.

In early 2021, I became the Copley Trustee that was appointed to the SWSCOG board. At that time we began pressuring our partners in SWSCOG to change the cost sharing formula. After nearly 2 years of asking our partners to stop screwing us financially, we decided to leave SWSCOG and join the new Summit County joint dispatch system effective in 2024. The Summit County system is state-of-the-art and will provide Copley with better dispatch services while driving down our cost substantially. Since Summit County Dispatch has a larger pool of communities than the SWSCOG group we are leaving, Copley will save about $400,000 per year.

In my 2019 campaign for election, I specifically criticized how the Township had spent money and purchased un-needed buildings and land. One of the challenges my fellow trustees and I had to work through what to do with those properties going forward.

There are many parcels of land that the Township acquired prior to my election without a specific purpose. For years these properties sat idle. Today each parcel the Township owns is either earmarked for a specific purpose or it is listed for sale.

One such example is the former Brookwall Fire Station that had been idle & wasting away for 16 years in the heart of Montrose. While the building on this property is owned 100% by Copley, the underlying land is owned 50/50 with Bath Township. We worked with Bath Township on (a) clarifying who owns what, (b) how we would split of sale proceeds, and (c) getting an updated appraisal of the property. It is now listed for sale.

In 1994, Copley entered into an agreement with Akron to form a Joint Economic Development District (JEDD). The deal was pretty simple; business owners pay Akron income tax and Akron was to provide sanitary sewer and drinking water to the business district as well as targeted residential neighborhoods. Akron has been collecting their tax, but they never provided sanitary sewer services for Copley Road property owners and others. After contemplating/threatening legal action, we identified a better solution. We identified a low interest loan that is enabling us to construct a $6.1 million sewer line and are working with Summit County instead of Akron. This has helped induce Akron to negotiate with us. We anticipate an amendment to the JEDD later this year that will resolve the sanitary sewer problem and other issues.

• New Police/Fire Station - COMPLETION IN 2024

• Conversion of Old Fire Station Bays into Community Center - COMPLETION IN 2024

• Extension of Sunset Drive - connecting from Copley Road to Cleveland-Massillon Road - COMPLETION IN 2024

• Copley Circle Parking Lot - COMPLETED

• Sanitary Sewer Extension - Copley Road from Route 21 to Jacoby as well as Schoolcraft and Sunset Drive - COMPLETION IN 2024

• Adult Fitness Facility - COMPLETED

• Ridgewood Road Trail/Sidewalk - COMPLETION IN 2024

• Copley Circle /Cleve-Mass Sidewalk - COMPLETION IN 2023

• Trail connecting Copley Park to Sunside Drive- COMPLETED

• 250 Acre Passive Use Park - Bessie-Williams and Panzner Wetlands

• 29 Acre Passive Use Park - Schocalog Lake

• Community Improvement Corporation Properties

• Broadband Expansion

The capital plan mentioned above includes a comprehensive trail plan for the entire Township. We subsequently formed a trail committee that is comprised of community members, the Summit County engineer, Dan Rice from the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition and others. These efforts are stating to pay off.

• We received a grant that helped fund the construction of a trail that was completed in 2021 that connected Copley Community Park to the neighborhood immediately east of the park.

• In June 2022, Copley received a $750,000 award from the State Capital Budget for design and construction of a 1.2 mile, 8-foot wide trail that will connect residential neighborhoods from Hametown Road to Copley High School and beyond. Future projects will eventually connect this path along Cleveland-Massillon Road; south to Copley Circle and north to Montrose. For context, every two years the state provides a fund to support local projects. Its worth noting that (a) this is the first time Copley Township has ever received any money and (b) Copley’s award was the largest of any community in Summit County. This layout of this trail and related drainage is currently in final design. Look for dirt to start turning on this project in 2024.

• In conjunction with the widening of Cleveland-Massillon Road (from the Norton line north to Ridgewood) that is slated to occur within the next year, the Township will install a sidewalk from the middle school, through Copley Circle to the railroad tracks.

• In conjunction with the design for sanitary sewer on Copley Road (see below), the plan is to ensure right-of-way access to construct a sidewalk from Copley Circle to the Community Park.

• We are working with other private landowner to secure additional trails and the Trustees have set aside $100,000 for this purpose.

A lack of vehicle parking had been a major impediment to making Copley Circle vibrant. To solve the parking issue, I proposed we enter into a long-term lease agreement with Copley Public Schools for a piece of land that enabled the Township to build an 85 car parking lot immediately adjacent to Copley Circle.

• While that is great news for Copley Bandstand and other events that occur at Copley Circle, it is even more important for re-development of the Circle.

• We sized the parking lot to serve all the small parcels near the circle. As a result, those parcels will not be required to provide parking or provide for storm water run off from the parking area; enabling the footprint of buildings and subsequent improvements to use substantially more of each parcel’s square footage.

• As adjacent parcels are developed, they will not have to incur the cost of constructing and maintaining parking lots.

Using the capital plan we developed in 2020 as our guide, we are moving forward with a sewer extension that will provide sanitary sewer to properties along Copley Road; from Route 21 to Jacoby. Engineering is being accomplished this year with construction scheduled for 2024. Here is some background.

• This entire project is within the JEDD district. In other words, these properties have been paying income taxes to Akron for 27 years and have received the sanitary sewer improvements they were promised.

• Implicit in the JEDD agreement with Akron is an obligation to provide sewer and water to the businesses that are paying taxes. While it would appear that Akron has a legal liability for not providing the services that were promised, our priority is to get sewer to these properties and then deal with Akron’s failure to meet their obligations. Simply put, help with those that were harmed and then go after the people that harmed them.

• Since Akron has been unwilling to fulfill their obligation to provide sewer, Copley is working with Summit County and this sewer will become part of the Summit County system.

• The entire project is projected to cost $6.1 million and will be funded by a 20-year loan with an extremely low interest rate plus a subsidy from Summit County.

• We are currently negotiating with Akron to determine how income tax revenue from the impacted parcels will be split between Akron and Copley.

In the middle of the COVID pandemic, the Township acquired 52 acres of commercially zoned, vacant land for $183,000 through an on-line auction. The Township’s Community & Economic Development department had been tracking this property for some time and we struck when the time was right. The purchase price represented a 75% discount from the county appraised value and enabled the Township to help ensure proper development of this land . The property fronts on Cleveland-Massillon Road and is located southeast of the Ridgewood/Cleveland-Massillon intersection. Now under the control of Copley’s Community Improvement Corporation, they are actively working on development of this property and will ensure that it becomes a positive improvement to our community.

Prior to my election, the Township had incurred about $1 million to acquire and demolish a building on Sunset Drive that they had contemplated turning into a community center. In short, they spent $1 million and had under-utilized vacant land to show for it. One of the challenges I faced when elected in 2019 was figuring out how to use the vacant land to the benefit of the Township. Thanks to the successful results in the 2022 election, the current dead-end street known as Sunset Drive will become a through street, connecting from Copley Road to Cleveland-Massillon Road, with all the parcels being serviced by sanitary sewer and water. A portion of the Township’s vacant land will become home to the new Safety Center and the remaining Township owned land will be developable and sold; re-cooping some of the Township’s investment.

In addition, by connecting Sunset from Copley to Cleveland-Massillon Road, 5pm traffic will flow more efficiently around the circle.

If you are reading the paper, you know that Summit County is taking a chunk of the money they received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and investing into a fiber-ring that will connect the 31 communities in Summit County. Summit Connects is for public safety and will connect government buildings to a new data center that will be built near the intersection of Ridgewood and Cleveland-Massillon Roads. Within Copley, the county will run fiber the entire length of Cleveland-Massillon Road. While it is a couple years away, the fiber backbone that will extend the length of Cleveland-Massillon Road will be the starting point to expand another broadband service into neighborhoods.

In the meanwhile, we have found other solutions. Frontier is currently running fiber throughout Copley Township. They anticipate completion in 2024 and this will result in another option for almost every household in the Township. Additionally, earlier this year we passed a resolution that enabled us to get funding to run Fairlawn GIG into the neighborhoods along Jacoby Road.

In my 2019 campaign for election, I specifically criticized how the Township had spent money and bought un-needed assets. One of the challenges my fellow trustees and I had to work through was what to do with those assets going forward. Prior to my election, the Township spent $575,000 to acquire 4 historic homes (1554 to 1576 South Cleveland-Massillon); only to tear t hem down. It was shameful. A portion of this vacant land will be used when we refurbish the existing fire bays into a Community Center.