SIDNEY — Sidney City Council Monday night adopted an amended city income tax ordinance to comply with state-mandated changes, but took the action reluctantly. Two council members voted “no.”
“This is another example of the state’s assault on home rule,” Councilman Steve Wagner said. “I’m not going to vote for it.”
Wagner and Councilman Darryl Thurber, who said the changes will hurt business growth, voted against the ordinance.
The rest of council did not like the changes either, but as City Manager Mark Cundiff explained, without passage of the amended ordinance, “I believe you’re in violation of state law.”
Cundiff said he agreed with Wagner. House Bill 5, the legislation that brought about the changes, “wasn’t the first and won’t be the last assault on home rule,” he said.
“The municipalities made their best argument, but we didn’t win the day,” Cundiff said. Mayor Mike Barhorst was among city leaders who testified before the state Legislature when HB 5 was being considered.
The Ohio General Assembly in December 2014 enacted HB 5 into legislation that amended the Ohio Revised Code concerning the municipal income tax. HB 5 requires all municipalities to adopt an ordinance before Jan. 1, 2016, to incorporate the changes.
In discussion at an earlier council meeting, Cundiff estimated Sidney will lose $95,000 a year because of the changes. He said the impact on Sidney is not as bad as some other cities because Sidney has long-standing fiscal policies to protect it.
In other business, council passed resolutions authorizing the city manager to enter into an annexation agreement with Clinton Township and agreeing the city will provide services to the area to be annexed.
The area involved is 25.249 acres on the north side of Fair and Schenk roads. The purpose of this annexation is to make the property available for development with city utilities and services, according to a report presented to council by Community Services Director Barbara Dulworth. The Sidney Planning Commission last week recommended approval of the annexation.
The land, owned by Charles Cole, currently is used for crop farming. Future uses of the land have not been announced; however, the city’s Annexation Review Committee has suggested that the zoning be I-2, general industrial. Zoning will be established in a separate action later.
The Annexation Review Committee recommended approval of the annexation, but fire officials did express concern about the response time for firefighters to the site. This would be of particular concern if the land were developed with heavy industry.
“It’s really stretching our fire response time,” Vice Mayor Mardie Milligan said. She voted “no” on both resolutions.
Deputy Fire Chief Cameron Haller said the fire department already serves the area, but later stated a large industrial complex “would tax our resources.”
The area to be annexed is adjacent to about 150 acres that the city had annexed earlier.
Councilman Rick Sims said annexing the land will lead to job creation and tax revenue in the future. “It’s going to benefit the city in the long run,” he said.
Dulworth said the developer will bear the cost of utilities being extended into the land; although the city will pay the difference to oversize a water main for the site. The only other city costs would be for staff time to deal with the annexation, she said.
Council passed a resolution authorizing an agreement between the city and the Shelby County Public Defender’s Commission. The city annually enters into an agreement with this agency, which provides legal services for the indigent in Sidney Municipal Court. The proposed charge for this service in 2016 is still of being negotiated, City Law Director Jeff Amick said; however, it will not exceed $55,000, which is the same amount paid this year.
Barhorst asked Amick to provide caseload information at a future meeting. Amick said the public defenders are “very busy.” He said the $55,000 in funding has been in place many years. “I’d be absolutely astounded if they didn’t use every cent,” he said.
Also at the meeting:
• Council adopted an ordinance to establish additional handicap parking as requested by the First Baptist Church and Holy Angels Catholic Church. First Baptist Church wants an additional “Sunday only 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.” parking space on North Miami Avenue. The space requested is the next space south of the current regular handicap space. In addition, the existing three Sunday-only handicap spaces would be converted to “Sunday only 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.” and the remainder of the week would become 48-hour regular parking. At Holy Angels, the church is requesting two additional handicap parking spaces on South Main Avenue. The additional spaces would be the fifth and sixth spaces north of Water Street along the west side of Main. The four parking spaces would be designated for handicap parking only on Saturday between 5 and 7 p.m. and Sunday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.
• Council passed a resolution authorizing the city to provide fire and emergency medical service to area townships in 2016. The dollar values reflect a 1 percent increase over the 2015 contracts (except for Washington Township). In Washington Township, Sidney covers a section of Interstate 75 that is less than a mile long. The only access to the section in Shelby County is from Sidney. That contract is for $1.
• Council passed a resolution authorizing payment of $16,665.64 to attorneys with the firm of Frost BrownTodd for work on the city’s water source project. City staff encumbered $20,000 on June 4 to pay for the services. As work on the project progressed, additional services were required, including assistance securing the necessary Washington Township right-of-way permits, Finance Officer Ginger Adams said. The total cost of these additional services was not encumbered prior to the rendering of service.
• Attorney Royce Link spoke to council on behalf of his client, Wade Murray, concerning assessment for weed cutting that Murray received from the city. Link explained Murray acquired the property, reclaimed an abandoned home, and paid the back taxes on it. He was not aware the city had an assessment on the property for weed cutting it had done earlier. Link asked the city to waive the assessment, saying Murray had done the city a service by improving the property. Amick agreed that Murray would not have known about the assessment when he bought the property. Amick said he suggested that Link bring the matter before council. Barhorst told Link that council would study the matter and advise him of its decision.
• Council passed a motion to meet only once in December. The workshop meeting and second meeting of the month will be canceled.
• Barhorst said Halloween next year falls on Monday. He asked council for guidance on whether trick-or-treat should remain on the Thursday before Halloween. Council was split on what day to designate. Barhorst said he would talk to mayors of other towns in the county and see if there was a consensus among them.
• Cundiff announced that the city’s finance department had once again received the Government Finance Officer Association’s “Excellence in Financial Reporting” award.
• Council went into an executive session to discuss employment of a public official.
