Dear Residents of Englewood and the Northmont Community,
As you may have read in recent newspaper articles, the City of Englewood has commissioned Premus Consultants to conduct an in-depth study of the proposed merger between Randolph Township and the Village of Clayton. Robcrt Premus, Ph.D., is also chairman of Wright State University's economics department.
Predictably, merger proponents reacted negatively to the news. They maintain that since Englewood is not involved, it's not our concern. We disagree! We believe the future of Englewood, and perhaps even Northmont City Schools, will he negatively influenced by passage of the merger.
To understand the City’s position, let's begin by talking about Northmont City Schools. The City of Englewood has long recognized that our fortunes -- and our future -- are inextricably tied to the status and stature of our school system. Schools have become the bellwether, the yardstick, of a community's desirability for home locations, and by extension, business addresses.
The funding dilemma casts a long shadow over many school districts, including our own. All acknowledge that one of our primary problems is a tax base that is out of balance. Property taxes fund the schools, and in Northmont, the residential tax base carries the major share of the load. Commercial and industrial growth is sorely needed to grow the school's income and relieve the disproportionate burden on homeowners.
The solution is to bring more commerce to our community. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. The competition between communities, regions and states is downright fierce. Attracting businesses has nearly become an industry in itself. To be considered a player in the game requires a lot of resources, including a menu of incentives that that businesses look for when making their relocation decisions: an in-place infrastructure including plenty of water and sewer capacity, highway access, and tax abatement. And those are just for starters. It's a buyer's market.
The good news is that after decades of slow but sure financial growth and stability, Englewood now has the water, sewer, roads. staff and revenue reserves to legitimately compete for businesses considering relocation. Since 1990 we've invested nearly $5 million for lift stations, force mains and other water and sewer extensions. Our new industrial parks west along Interstate 70 are examples of our successes. While we've got a long way to go, the more than 12 new businesses and 316 new jobs in town in just the past two years are evidence of solid progress.
So what does all of this have to do with the Randolph Township/ Village of Clayton merger? Simply this: If the merger goes through. Englewood (and Union) stop growing. Our boundaries will be forever set at their current locations. Our water and sewer lines go no further: our ability to develop new industrial parks becomes meaningless. Should adjoining landowners seek annexation for development opportunities, Englewood and Union are out of the picture, permanently.
While some Englewood critics may be happy with this scenario, the sobering fact is that the burden of providing for and nurturing future commercial/industrial growth would fall to the new city created after a merger, which would have the only land in the community still available for development. A new city without it's own infrastructure. Without water wells or a delivery system. Without a wastewater treatment plant to address Clayton's problems.
The new city would face many daunting challenges just to get its wheels turning to provide the basic necessities.
The hard reality is that running a successful municipal operation is costly. The answer is not in residential taxes. The key is a city income tax.
It's no secret that the 1.75 percent income tax paid by the men and women who work at Englewood businesses provides the majority of our ability to grow and improve. since there is virtually no employment base in the proposed new city, an income tax similar to Englewood's would be largely meaningless. The new city would have the ability to pass a 1 percent income tax without a vote. but this action may prove a tough sell.
Residents working in Dayton would pay that city's 2.25 percent income tax as well as the new city’s tax, assuming it was a non-credit income tax, making them among the highest-taxed citizens in the county.
What's more, the next Northmont Schools levy may well have an added challenge of competing with the new city's tax-increase needs.
In the meantime, our concern is that any active outreach to commercial development -- the ultimate solution to school finances -- would of necessity be pushed by the new city to the back burner or become nonexistent.
With so much at stake -- for Englewood and all of the Northmont Community -- the merger issue warrants intensive study and fact-finding. It is nothing less than the most important and potentially far-reaching crisis ever faced by the community. Instead of resisting the input of an unbiased, professional fact-finding effort, we believe the study that will be conducted by Dr. Premus should be welcomed, regardless of who sponsors or pays for it. Above all, let the decision be made to have only the most exhaustive and objective investigation possible.
In the end, if all the facts bear out the soundness of the merger idea, it will fly regardless of who is against it. But if it is flawed and wrong for the community, let that truth come out as well. In the meantime, on behalf of the City of Englewood, I commit to a full and open public review of the Premus study. regardless of its conclusions. There's simply too much at stake to do otherwise.
Reprinted from The Englewood-Northmont Community Newsletter
