Street light assessment

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   MJ:
Middletown considers street light assessment to pay for road repairs

By Mike Rutledge 
Staff Writer 
MIDDLETOWN — 
To gain more money for paving of Middletown streets, city officials are considering $3-per-month assessments on homes and businesses to pay the city’s street-lighting bills.

Rather than paying about $750,000 a year to Duke Energy from the city’s general fund, City Manager Doug Adkins has recommended to Middletown City Council that city government instead spend the money on something city residents have clamored for: paving the streets.

Adkins told council members the total cost to pave city streets is $161.9 million.

By the year 2020, Adkins hopes Middletown will have enough additional revenue that it can pay for $3.8 million a year in paving and other capital improvements.

Of that annual $3.8 million, he wants $3.59 million to go toward paving; $100,000 a year for capital improvements in parks; $100,000 to go for neighborhood infrastructure; with $25,000 going for tree care; and $20,000 going toward directional signs and general beautification.

He said a $3-per-month streetlight assessment for homes and businesses would generate roughly $800,000 per year for paving streets.

“Right now, we’re just paying Duke, writing a check for three quarters of a million dollars,” he told the council during a January retreat at Hueston Woods State Park. “If you recoup that from homeowners, obviously that money could be redirected to paving while we’re building the revenues up to 2020.”

Adkins clarified that businesses also would receive assessments. The expectation is that everyone with a water account would pay — whether their street has lights or not — so the cost “is spread out evenly to every account,” he said later.

“We’re one of the very few communities in southwest Ohio that don’t assess for their street lights,” Adkins said. “Most communities pass that cost on to their homeowners.”

“Do you want to bill homeowners?” he asked council members. “I have built that into my $3.8 million, the fact that we would. Obviously, you have to decide you want to do that. Cost estimates — and again, we would get much better numbers for you — would be theoretically $3 a month per household. That’s not a huge amount, but we’re tapping them for all kinds of other things.”

Council members voiced general support for the idea.

“I think that’s the right way to go,” said Councilman Steve Bohannon. “But we’ve got to show the citizens that in fact, we’re not just telling them we’re going to do it, but in fact, we are taking that money and going to put it into roads.”

Councilman Daniel Picard said, “I’ve always hesitated on this one, but I think I’ll go ahead and say we need to move forward.” But it’s important to carefully explain to the public the dollar reasons behind the assessment, Picard stressed.

“Doug, you showed us what the real costs are,” Picard added. “And we really need to hammer that home, that ‘OK, we have these costs for this, and these costs for that.’ You start adding this up, and we end up with, ‘This is the big number we’re left with, and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.’”

“It’s a huge future liability,” Mayor Larry Mulligan Jr. added.

Councilman Talbott Moon, like Bohannon, said, “If we did do this, I feel fairly strongly that we need to have some sort of legal commitment to it going to roads.”

As the discussion ended, Moon told Adkins: “I need more information.”

This week, Moon said he still needs more information.

“If it’s something the current council is going to spend more time investigating, I would want to make sure that there’s a way to dedicate those funds for road or infrastructure improvements,” he said.

Vice Mayor Dora Bronston said she does not yet have a position.

“I really don’t have enough information to go on,” she said.

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409 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Mar 27 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1014	Post Options Post Reply Quote 409 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Street light assessment Posted: Feb 09 2016 at 5:09pm
	MJ: Middletown considers street light assessment to pay for road repairs By Mike Rutledge Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN — To gain more money for paving of Middletown streets, city officials are considering $3-per-month assessments on homes and businesses to pay the city’s street-lighting bills. Rather than paying about $750,000 a year to Duke Energy from the city’s general fund, City Manager Doug Adkins has recommended to Middletown City Council that city government instead spend the money on something city residents have clamored for: paving the streets. Adkins told council members the total cost to pave city streets is $161.9 million. By the year 2020, Adkins hopes Middletown will have enough additional revenue that it can pay for $3.8 million a year in paving and other capital improvements. Of that annual $3.8 million, he wants $3.59 million to go toward paving; $100,000 a year for capital improvements in parks; $100,000 to go for neighborhood infrastructure; with $25,000 going for tree care; and $20,000 going toward directional signs and general beautification. He said a $3-per-month streetlight assessment for homes and businesses would generate roughly $800,000 per year for paving streets. “Right now, we’re just paying Duke, writing a check for three quarters of a million dollars,” he told the council during a January retreat at Hueston Woods State Park. “If you recoup that from homeowners, obviously that money could be redirected to paving while we’re building the revenues up to 2020.” Adkins clarified that businesses also would receive assessments. The expectation is that everyone with a water account would pay — whether their street has lights or not — so the cost “is spread out evenly to every account,” he said later. “We’re one of the very few communities in southwest Ohio that don’t assess for their street lights,” Adkins said. “Most communities pass that cost on to their homeowners.” “Do you want to bill homeowners?” he asked council members. “I have built that into my $3.8 million, the fact that we would. Obviously, you have to decide you want to do that. Cost estimates — and again, we would get much better numbers for you — would be theoretically $3 a month per household. That’s not a huge amount, but we’re tapping them for all kinds of other things.” Council members voiced general support for the idea. “I think that’s the right way to go,” said Councilman Steve Bohannon. “But we’ve got to show the citizens that in fact, we’re not just telling them we’re going to do it, but in fact, we are taking that money and going to put it into roads.” Councilman Daniel Picard said, “I’ve always hesitated on this one, but I think I’ll go ahead and say we need to move forward.” But it’s important to carefully explain to the public the dollar reasons behind the assessment, Picard stressed. “Doug, you showed us what the real costs are,” Picard added. “And we really need to hammer that home, that ‘OK, we have these costs for this, and these costs for that.’ You start adding this up, and we end up with, ‘This is the big number we’re left with, and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.’” “It’s a huge future liability,” Mayor Larry Mulligan Jr. added. Councilman Talbott Moon, like Bohannon, said, “If we did do this, I feel fairly strongly that we need to have some sort of legal commitment to it going to roads.” As the discussion ended, Moon told Adkins: “I need more information.” This week, Moon said he still needs more information. “If it’s something the current council is going to spend more time investigating, I would want to make sure that there’s a way to dedicate those funds for road or infrastructure improvements,” he said. Vice Mayor Dora Bronston said she does not yet have a position. “I really don’t have enough information to go on,” she said.
	Every morning is the dawn of a new error...

VietVet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008	Post Options Post Reply Quote VietVet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 09 2016 at 8:08pm
	Enough Adkins!!! You are raising the water and sewer rates on us. Now, you want to stick a "lighting fee" on us also? What's next, a sidewalk usage fee? You helped create a low income, poor community that is revenue starved and now you want to charge for everything under the sun and stick it to the residents to fix the dam streets that should have been maintained since the 80's. I know you are aware that the city, at one time, had a street repair fund in the budget to do preventative maintenance on the streets. You read this site and are also aware, since you are a relative newcomer, that that fund was dissolved and used for other purposes and never returned to the original fund to this day. You may also be aware that during the Gilleland/Becker era, a street repair committee was formed and met on the 4th floor of the city building with Tony Marconi, Gilleland, Becker and other city officials sitting at the table. It went nowhere and was only some lip service and, as is typical, a waste of time as nothing was accomplished out of all the meetings held. Stop trying to generate revenue to pay for basic services like street repair by raping the citizens of this town. Start leaning on the companies to provide you with the money you need and stop draining our wallets as your sole source of revenue. We don't have the money bud, companies do. You're targeting the wrong source to finance what should have already been taken care of years ago. Your buddies that preceded you dropped the ball and we all are paying the price with lousy roads and a deteriorating infrastructure. Enough already. Do any of you ever think of the people living here and what they can realistically afford? Being nickeled and dimed to death adds up over time. I like this.... "Council members voiced general support for the idea"......what else is new from the rubberstamp crowd incapable of thinking on their own or voicing any dissent. All cookie cutter, yes nodding bobbleheads......the criteria for sitting behind that council desk or on any committees in town. Just resume building for something more important down the road. Incredible. Some council people say they need more information? Naw, just a delay tactic for later going along with the program and agreeing to anything and everything as usual. Just once, I would like to see council actually discuss a topic and come to a conclusion that they disagree with a proposal from city hall and vote to reject it. Just once.
	I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.

acclaro Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1878	Post Options Post Reply Quote acclaro Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 09 2016 at 9:06pm
	Middletown will never recover from its poor status and reputation. More importantly, neither will the home owner, the family who was unwisely, put down funds to invest in a house that just continues to slide downward. Property values in Middletown will never rebound, and therefore, there won't be demand for housing in Middletown. Think how the city has killed housing value. School levies, mental health, senior citizen levy, coupled with non progressing school district, roads that are pathetically ignored, and now an extra 10.00 a month or so for lighting and sewer etc. When the city adds these expenses with high property taxes and the largest employer in Butler County selling at less than 2.00/share. it is impossible for the home owner to ever recover the value lost. Bought high, selling low, just like the majority of the residents betrayed and let down by city hall and city council. Oh....when these added expenses are on the monthly bill, professionals and young adults don't want to move to Middletown. High rise apartments, new development, explosive growth in the Renaissance is just fiction, and unwound by the added expenses no one would find acceptable in a cost benefit analysis. Shooting the feet continues when revenue generation is a chronic failure. Bright future is black as a coal mind shaft for the city exploiting those owning property. 28,000 looks likely in population, and just on target.
	'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill

Bocephus Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 04 2009 Status: Offline Points: 838	Post Options Post Reply Quote Bocephus Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 12:44am
	Come on people that's only a couple pizzas a year lol

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 9:59am
	Adkins told council members the total cost to pave city streets is $161.9 million. By the year 2020, Adkins hopes Middletown will have enough additional revenue that it can pay for $3.8 million a year in paving and *other capital improvements.* Of that annual $3.8 million, he wants $3.59 million to go toward paving; *$100,000 a year for capital improvements in parks;* *$100,000 to go for neighborhood infrastructure;* *$25,000 going for tree care;* *$20,000 going toward directional signs and general beautification.* He said a $3-per-month streetlight assessment for homes and businesses would generate roughly $800,000 per year for paving streets. Hmm...I thought all these items were paid for from the General Fund. If City Hall wants more money then they need to put it on a ballot and let the voters decide. Folks this is not an assessment...this is just another SLUSH FUND for City Hall to play with.

Factguy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Dec 07 2009 Status: Offline Points: 217	Post Options Post Reply Quote Factguy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 10:32am
	All planned out at least ten years ago. City knew who they wanted on council to push city agenda. Only one council member VOTED to put the percent of general fund allocated back to streets, and they crushed him. Will do same for Moon when he tells them he disagrees. And wasn't Bohannon all in support of new revenue growth? Revenue growth has meant for many generations, fee increases, and tax elevation. Plan in action. Reduce council members. Elect supporters of city hall. Raise fees on services, and the low hanging fruit, take poor residents who might owe $10.00 in annual tax, and hit them with a $200.00 tax bill for 'court' collection, penalties. As Mr. Mulligan said, 'if you don't like it, get out.' Or be run out by costs. It means something when a city like Oakwood has low water costs. It means the city is well run. Raising expenses when unjustified shows just the opposite.

Cooper Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Apr 25 2014 Status: Offline Points: 62	Post Options Post Reply Quote Cooper Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 11:13am
	Good time in spring to be making a living selling homes in Middletown, as many will be getting out. New Jersey raised property taxes and service expenses so high, they lost their highest earning tax base in months, to Florida and other low tax friendly states. Why anyone would hang around a city when expenses are getting high to cover failures over many years is uanswered. Full court press been ongoing for 15 years for new tax base growth and the home team has produced nothing in return. Failing game-plan. Is Myron Bowling available to run the city? He seems to know how to make money. Our Five Year Mission… February 10, 2016 Leave a comment Sounds like the beginning of a Star Trek episode doesn’t it? Yes, I’m a big geek at heart…. I talked to everyone last week about setting up the ground work to be successful. We talked about using 2015 to create changes in staffing, to open communications with the public, and to capture what is required to return the city to sustainable revenues while providing ongoing infrastructure improvements and meeting the quality of life needs of our residents. We talked about the changes made in Economic Development to be more business friendly and to be prepared to operate at the speed of business. Specifically, during 2015 we identified unmet needs in water and sewer infrastructure, paving updates, deferred maintenance of city owned property and unmet needs in our parks and quality of life amenities for our residents. We now know the “what” and we have put tools and personnel in place to start dealing with “how” to bring us back to sustainable revenues to accomplish our unmet needs. 2016 will be the year we put the pieces together to connect from where we are today to where we need to be to consistently pave roads, maintain water utilities, upgrade our parks, and restore quality of life activities each year, every year, moving forward. I firmly believe that it is possible to reach sustainable revenues and to be ready to continually fund all needed areas in the city within the next five year, or by 2020. We have put together the skeleton framework of how we could get there in five years, and I’ll be sharing the various pieces of that plan throughout the next several weeks. When you see it, it will look aggressive, but it also looks possible. Could the economy tank again? Sure. Could a major employer suffer some type of loss and set us back? Sure. We could also become the next Austin Landing and blow this plan out of the water. You build a plan with the current information at hand and we will adapt as we move along the path with new information that becomes available. This year we will specifically be looking at the following areas: a new Downtown Master Plan built on the Main Street concept; Community Visioning of What our Residents would like Middletown to become; A new Zoning Code incorporating the most modern concepts in zoning overlaid with Middletown’s objectives in land use and economic development; A housing study that helps us over time to create a vibrant housing stock with improving property values; An update to the Airport plan to open new development opportunities at the Airport; A pedestrian/bicycle/automobile/transit study that gives us better ways to move people throughout the city to shopping and jobs. We know the “what” as far as how much additional revenue we need to consistently provide needed city services to our residents. The list above helps us create “how” we raise those revenues. My goal is to create a plan that raises those revenues as much as possible with new jobs and with new families moving into the city and not by taxing our existing residents any more than necessary in the process. Will this be free to you? No… but watch over the next few weeks as we lay out the “how” and see how we have structured this to affect you as little as we could and still meet the goal of sustainable revenues by 2020. With a full plan completed in 2016 and 2017, the next few years will be spent working hard to meet the plan goals by the end of 2020. One year preparing, one year planning, three years of hard work and execution. Sustainable revenues meeting city resident needs by 2020. It will be hard. It will be aggressive. It will take a little bit of good luck in the economy. It’s the right time for the right goal. Let’s get back to sustainable revenues and fixing our city. I’ve said it several times in public. “You can’t fix Middletown on Thursday.” I believe we can fix it in five years, however….

Dean Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Apr 15 2014 Status: Offline Points: 162	Post Options Post Reply Quote Dean Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 1:13pm
	Jeopardy; Alex, I'll take MUNICIPALITIES for $1,000. "To be taken advantage of, to be given nothing, or inferior service." Alex, what is fleeced? Correct! The blog statement is misdirection. Discussion of Cincinnati State, Main Street, new studies and analysis, has been bait and switch to buy time and give the appearance, something is occurring in the future. In this case, just hang, city need to collect revenues from you, to improve your quality of life. What the city is doing is reserving the funds to protect its debt rating, associated with the $5 Million given to AKS. A capital float of money for reserve, under the radar by indicating it will improve the quality of life. City covering their AKS capital investment; resident is stuck floating the cash reserve IMO. Alex, next category please. DEPARTURES, for $2,000. and the DAILY DOUBLE.

VietVet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008	Post Options Post Reply Quote VietVet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 1:47pm
	In reading this from Adkins, it sounds like they are starting to come to their senses in the city building. Just want to know why all the years of denial and argument in what we have been saying on this forum? Why all the bantering back and forth, if, in the end, you city leaders have finally agreed on what we have been saying for years now. Your ideas here have been talked about many times here. The ideas in the article are nothing new. You can leave the concentration on the dam precious downtown area out of the picture until the basics like road and infrastructure repairs are under control. Making the downtown better is a luxury and not a basic need at this time Adkins That comes much later. Your major areas of commercialization are in other areas and the downtown will not contribute any notable revenue for the city so why bother with it at this time? 1st priority......decent paying jobs by providing incentives for potential employers to move their operations here. 2nd priority......more decent paying jobs..... If you accomplish 1 and 2, all the other things will follow. People will move here. They will have jobs. They will buy houses, cars, furniture, patronize local businesses.....money will flow including more taxes for the city. The mention of wanting input from city residents is refreshing, yet, to be seen, if history is any indicator of city leaders wanting to hear from the general populace. Never cared to form a relationship before, why now? Just lip service until it actually happens. The city always advertises they are "business friendly". Now, in this article, there is an indication that that was another lie as it is now a goal yet to be obtained. Being "Kohlerless" is the first step. The listed item concerning moving people around the city has already been accomplished. They are called Breile, University and Roosevelt Boulevards. Before Bill Klosterman, then the city engineer, put those in, it was much more difficult to get around the city with all the stop and go traffic at the time. This boulevard system revolutionized the city as to speed and efficiency getting from one side of town to the other. “You can’t fix Middletown on Thursday.” No, but your predecessors certainly destroyed it in the last three decades. The million dollar questions for most of us long time residents are.......why didn't people step forward and stop it when the destruction was first occurring and why would the leaders of a city, some born and raised here, who are suppose to have the city's best interest at heart, do that to any city? If you do all of this on your own Adkins, and you don't ask for resident input, and worse yet, you ask but ignore the input, your entire program here loses any credibility in the eyes of the people. Like Austin Landing? Uhh, not likely. Austin Landing is on a different level as to quick time to develop, quality of clientele occupying the developed area and they actually executed what they talked about rather than just giving lip service as this city has done many times. They were successful as well, as opposed to all of the failed attempts this city has tried in the past. Let's face it, the city success rate on projects that have been successful has been dismal for the most part.
	I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.

Factguy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Dec 07 2009 Status: Offline Points: 217	Post Options Post Reply Quote Factguy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 7:36pm
	Mr. Adkins, if citizens are clamoring for street repair, why have they not gotten 60% of their neighbors to resurface their roads? Dan Picard did that and that is a solution for those clamoring for street repairs. Also, do you intend to collect these funds for four to five years, and then start paving, and how many homes actually were used to calculate the $800,000 in assessments? Such action should be voted on, and not left in the hands of any council member period.

Cooper Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Apr 25 2014 Status: Offline Points: 62	Post Options Post Reply Quote Cooper Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 8:25pm
	"My goal is to create a plan that raises those revenues as much as possible with new jobs and with new families moving into the city and not by taxing our existing residents any more than necessary in the process." That means 2.25% or more. That's the trick. Raise expenses and drive prop values to the pits.

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 11 2016 at 9:50am
	In 1986 City Council voted to use all the money in the Street Fund for other needs and with the nod of their heads and the stroke of the pen all of the money disappeared. So now City Hall wants to add $3.00 a month to your water bill to cover the cost of street repairs. What happens several years from now if City Hall finds that they have underestimated the funds needed and votes to add $10.00 a month to your water bill? This is a very slippery slope. This is nothing more that a backdoor tax and should be voted on by the people. Where are the funds from the Auto and Gas Tax that we receive every year? Where are the 1 mil of our property taxes that are to be used for our streets and roads? We can also use HUD CDBG Funds in low income areas to repair street. City Council needs to do their research and understand the numbers before they vote to place this burden on every citizen’s water bill in this city. No matter what label they place on this little money collecting deal..IT’S A TAX! And therefore needs to go before the public for a vote.

Factguy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Dec 07 2009 Status: Offline Points: 217	Post Options Post Reply Quote Factguy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Feb 11 2016 at 10:53am
	If this is not voted on by the public, and not by five council members, the city may open itself up for legal exposure. If it is estimated it cost $162 Million to pave Middletown, allocating $2-$3 Million annually does less than 3% of the roads throughout the city. So, if my street gets paved in 60 years, and escalating costs each year, and paid the 3.00 month tax, or assessment, or $36.00 annually, the cost would be $2100. for no benefit. How will the streets to be paved be decided---flip of coin or lottery? Or value of the residents to the city by rank? I like and support Doug Adkins but do not support this ill advised and conceptualized tax. Suggest calls to all council members and often.

Street light assessment

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