Posted: 8:00 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015
More levies may be answer to fixing roads
By Michael D. Pitman and Ed Richter

Staff Writer

BUTLER COUNTY — 

    A glimpse into the future of how local communities will forage for funding to cover the costs of street and road maintenance is murky at best.

    Ask any city leader or elected official what the main challenge is to address this issue and the answer is simply “funding.”

    One answer may lay in Madison Twp.

    “There are a number of communities watching this result,” Madison Twp. Administrator Todd Farler told the Journal-News during the recount of the 1-mill continuing roads levy held just after the Nov. 4 general election. He didn’t say, however, which communities were watching, but the numbers show there is a year-to-year growing trend from 2013 to 2014.

    Madison Twp. voters passed its road levy by 2 votes, and it is believed to be the first roads-specific levy in Butler County. Some of the past levies around Butler County allotted for only some of those tax dollars to be spent on road and street repairs and maintenance.

    As state and federal funding shrink, it remains a challenge for local communities to do much more with even less as they look for other revenue sources as well as become more strategic in future planning and hoping for some good luck for new opportunities to arise.

    The math is pretty simple, said Butler County Engineer Greg Wilkens, and seeing more road levies on the ballot “surely has the potential” to happen.

    Butler County Engineer’s Office receives money from several sources at the federal, state and local levels. But the two primary sources are from license plates fees and the gas tax, which the federal gas tax hasn’t risen since 1993.

    “All of us are in the same boat,” Wilkens said. “There’s a major reduction in purchasing power. I think federally since 1997 we’ve lost 28 percent of our purchasing power.”

    And with the “lack of purchasing power,” he said “we’ve started scraping the barrel.”

    On roads that have 1,000 cars or less traveling them per day, instead of asphalt overlays — where a road is repaved with 2 to 3 inches of asphalt — the engineer is doing more inexpensive road treatments, such as chip seals where a very thin layer of asphalt is removed and replaced with a combination of asphalt and fine rock and aggregate.

    Though he has been criticized by the public about doing more chip seals and other inexpensive options, Wilkens said he and community road departments don’t have a choice.

    “They’re getting squeezed. What else can we do to maintain these roads,” he said. “We’re kind of forced to go backwards.”

    Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins said the long-term plan is to build sustainable new revenues through economic development and reining in spending. As that plan is being further developed, he said the city will continue to leverage outside funding on major resurfacing/reconstruction projects, continue pothole patching and crack sealing programs, and continue in-house paving on residential streets and problem areas.

    Among the city’s 2015 goals is tasking the city’s Public Works department is to provide updated costs of paving Middletown’s roadways along with a 25-year plan to put all paved streets to at least “fair” condition on the PCI. In addition, the city will look at options to reduce lane miles for low traffic locations and the impact of combined sewers and grants on the overall price tag. The update is also to include a plan to return all sidewalks to city standards including costs as part of a city-wide paving program. That update is to be completed by June 30.

    Adkins and other elected and appointed officials have to work with their communities to help get tax issues passed to make road repairs and make other improvements.

    In Middletown, street levies have been considered a number of times in the recent past and in 1997 and in 2004, they were soundly rejected by voters. Another large, 0.75-percent income tax increase that included, but not required funding toward city roads and streets was also rejected in 2006. City Council considered placing a 0.25-percent income tax increase for streets, but chose not to place it on the ballot in 2008. Instead they opted to place a 0.25 percent income tax increase dedicated solely for public safety expenses.

    The city’s charter was amended by voters in 1986 that required half of the 1.5 percent earned income tax revenues be allocated for streets and infrastructure to avoid a budget deficit in 1987 and in 1988. Some think this might be something to revisit as a way to raise more revenue. In his presentation during his job interview last summer, Adkins suggested by 2018 that council consider the charter amendment to require capital expenditures annually.

    “I am not aware the (Middletown City) Council has or is considering a charter amendment at this time,” Adkins said earlier this month. “I think it’s important to have a workable plan and rising, sustainable revenues in place before we lock in a charter amendment. It took 30 years to get here and you can’t fix it on a Thursday. It will take careful planning, taking advantage of opportunities, a little bit of good luck, and time to build a dedicated revenue source for road improvements.”

    Hamilton Public Works Director Richard Engle said he had been unaware of Madison Twp.’s proposed street levy when the city looked at street paving options.

    “But I am interested in seeing how it goes,” he said.

    Engle brought several levy options before the city’s Finance Committee on Nov. 20. While the options are merely conversational at this time and require more discussion and analysis before becoming anything concrete, the levy options enable funding to maintain five miles of road, seven miles of road, and 10 miles of road annually.

    Having well-maintained roads is important for the city because “they reflect on the community,” Engle said. “When we’ve gone into lower income communities and done resurfacing, there seems to be increased pride in the community where they’ve actually improved their yards and done improvements on their house to reflect more pride in their neighborhood.”

    He added that although the trend of the moment is to work toward “walkable” cities that are catered to pedestrians and cyclists, “vehicular travel is still essential.”

CONTINUING COVERAGE

Maintaining roads are a top priority for governments, but the money is not always there. So officials try to be economical, and sometimes creative, with tax dollars in order to maximize the return on investment. This is the third of a three-part series looking at roads in Butler County because without drive-able roads, our economy and residential growth can suffer.

 

"“All of us are in the same boat,” Wilkens said. “There’s a major reduction in purchasing power. I think federally since 1997 we’ve lost 28 percent of our purchasing power.”
    And with the “lack of purchasing power,” he said “we’ve started scraping the barrel.”"

And don't you think that the taxpayer has lost purchasing power over the years Wilkens? The working people have been scraping the bottle of the barrel for many years because the wage increases have not kept up with the cost of living.

"Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins said the long-term plan is to build sustainable new revenues through economic development and reining in spending"

That should have started 40 years ago when Armco started to downsize, the paper mills started to close and the corporate revenue left the city. It is 2015 and we are just now talking about this? A lack of planning, a lack of effort and a lack of foresight from the absentee city managers and councils since the 80's have gotten us to where we are now. Incredible lack of leadership over the decades.

"In Middletown, street levies have been considered a number of times in the recent past and in 1997 and in 2004, they were soundly rejected by voters."

No one to blame but the city leadership in the Becker administration for this scenario. Under his guidance, the city asked the voters to transfer the street fund money to a more dire need. Never returned the money. Can you blame the voters for rejected these levies on a repetitive basis? Like everything else coming from the city leaders, nothing they say can be trusted. And what has happened to the gas tax money all these years? No one can verify whether they have been used for the roads or not. I would bet the money was channeled to other pet projects (downtown?) and needs even though the money is suppose to be used only for roads.

"The update is also to include a plan to return all sidewalks to city standards including costs as part of a city-wide paving program."

Sidewalks back to city standards? Why? Focus on the biggest need Adkins. People drive on the streets and incur large car repairs for doing so. Some streets are down to grass growing through the cracks in the residential neighborhoods. Very few people use the sidewalks. Take care of the streets first. The sidewalks can wait.

"Adkins and other elected and appointed officials have to work with their communities to help get tax issues passed to make road repairs and make other improvements."

NO!!!!! Adkins and other elected and appointed officials have to work with their communities to HELP GET TAX ISSUES PASSED to make road repairs.....

Get the dam money from corporate and payroll tax revenues. NOT from the already overburdened taxpayer! Mercy, you still don't get it do you. YOU created a poor community with your dam low income invitations to the city. Now, you want to ask YOUR low income residents for more taxes? What's the matter with you?

"The city’s charter was amended by voters in 1986 that required half of the 1.5 percent earned income tax revenues be allocated for streets and infrastructure to avoid a budget deficit in 1987 and in 1988. Some think this might be something to revisit as a way to raise more revenue."

Yeah, that's the answer. Jack up the city income tax some more to attract more business and residents to town. Beat up on the poor people living in this city encouraging more to leave. Good idea......mercy.

For crying out loud. Is taxing everyone's wallet your answer to everything around here? Inept leadership at it's best here in Middletown. Your "do nothing" attitude toward road and infrastructure maintenance is catching up with you now after four decades of neglect.

The Journal is writing the articles that will NEVER materialize into anything to advertise they write 5 times the garbage articles than the Cincinnati Enquirer. We know the city and commissioners shafted everyone by allowing the diversion of funds and never looked back. They care about their city payroll and their city employees, nothing else.

Adkins talk about planning and looking at economic revenue years out, is another way of saying the band aid patch will continue. If you want a progressive county, its in Warren Cty, not Butler. If you want good roads, move to Oxford or West Chester. The pebbles will be getting worse, not better. Maybe in series 4 and 5, the Journal will enlighten all how many neighborhoods have chosen to pay the tax for the roads to be fixed, you know, Gilleland's mindless solution.,

In 5 years, road will be worse than today, no dedicated funds put in place, and Donham Abbey still fat and feasting.

Middletown will never change. And neither will the lack of economic development positively impacting the city.

All the city wants is to down-size its population to the desirable individuals whom allowed commissioners and others to run it into the ground. That's the Master Plan. Downsize its population, keep AK and the Atrium, and maintain the castle called Donham Abbey.

Revolt is not in the vocabulary of the Middletownian.

Next.

Everyone votes "NO" on these levies because they have lost faith in their local government officials. Middletown needs the roads; they just want the money that was allocated for their repair to be returned to that function. The lack of transparency and real action on these problems will continue until those responsible are no longer members of council and the city administration.

Factguy wrote: TonyB; Why don't more citizens take advantage of the city program to petition neighbors to have their specific street paved with new asphalt and spread that tax out over years? Conversely, that would raise property values.

Ahh c'mon Factguy, you know why people won't petition their neighbors for street paving.

First of all, in any normal city, it's the city's responsibility to pave the streets and most normal cities budget for that. Not this city. Not since the 80's. As the property lines are defined, the property owner's responsibility ends with sidewalk repair. Shouldn't be that way either because the property owner's line ends at the inner side of the sidewalk with the city owning the sidewalks, but I'll give them that. Technically, on a day like today, the city should clear their own sidewalks and driveway apron as they sit on the city's property. Same with the grass mowing in the summer months. Technically, the city owns the grass between the sidewalk and the curb, but, again, I'll give them that and mow for the sake of appearance.

The overwhelming reason people don't petition the city is that they don't want the additional cost tacked onto their property taxes for 20 years. That, and the fact that most people in this city consider street paving the city's responsibility and can't afford any more additional taxes as they are already over-taxed. Middletown has some of the highest taxes in Butler County. We pay taxes and still are asked to foot the bill for services that should be included in the taxes we pay. Seems to me the taxpayer is getting the crappy end of the stick here.

And no, the street repair isn't the only magical bullet for raising property values. It is much more complicated than that and Middletown lacks most of the other parts of the property value raising puzzle. You know better than to suggest that the streets are the sole solution to property values increasing. Mercy.

Factguy: It seems reasonable until you remember you're dealing with a population of low to middle income households that are barely scrapping by now. The city already has one of the highest tax rates in the area. Where would you suggest the citizens come up with the money? Stop eating?
You also seem to miss the other part of the puzzle. Most citizens here have lost faith in their local government. Why would you trust this city to fix the road once they have your money?

The city has done a fine job all winter and has in my opinion. for the past 2-3 years. Its so cold, they had to wait until the snow began to tamper down. My only criticism is there should be a softer, protective shield put on the actual snow plows, as the metal and the depth the city workers are going into the streets is set too deep. It sends out sparks and really did some damage on several major streets.

Factguy wrote: The city has done a fine job all winter and has in my opinion. for the past 2-3 years. Its so cold, they had to wait until the snow began to tamper down. My only criticism is there should be a softer, protective shield put on the actual snow plows, as the metal and the depth the city workers are going into the streets is set too deep. It sends out sparks and really did some damage on several major streets. If residents don't pave their streets with the city assistance program, are you willing to wait 50 years to have the streets done. If not, how long and how street repair could be done even if the city rededicated street funds?

PERFECT EXAMPLE OF YOU MISSING THE ENTIRE SCENE HERE.......YOU STATE..

"If residents don't pave their streets with the city assistance program, are you willing to wait 50 years to have the streets done. If not, how long and how street repair could be done even if the city rededicated street funds?"

This is what is so fascinating (and unbelievable) about your posts. The city "borrows" money from the road fund back in the 80's. They never replaced it. We don't know why they transferred the funds to another only saying they needed it for "a more pressing event". The roads deteriorate to the point of grass growing through the dam pavement and they still don't feel a need to put money into the account. And you defend this thinking? WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO WAIT THE 50 YEARS (AND GILLELAND WOULDN'T HAVE COME OUT WITH THIS "PEOPLE PAY FOR YOUR OWN PAVING" NONSENSE) TO HAVE THE STREETS DONE IF. SINCE THE 80'S, THEY WOULD HAVE MAINTAINED, SCHEDULED AND EXECUTED THE ROAD REPAIRS/REPAVING. You are now asking us, the taxpayer, to not only forgive this "slight indiscretion" on the city's part, but now you suggest we place even more money into our residential street to correct this city screw-up. You have placed the needed service of paving the streets on the backs of the people when you should be pointing your finger at the city for failing to uphold what we paid for in the first place. Is there ANY situation where the dam city officials have failed the people in your opinion or are the people at fault no matter how pathetic the city has done? We are NOT going to continue to pay the price because of the inept irresponsibility coming out of city hall. We are tired of shelling out money so that the dam city can waste and divert it, then turn around and ask us to pay the bill for the original intent because they wasted it on something else. Mercy! Pave the dam roads city people. It's YOUR responsibility to the people to provide the basics. Stop wasting all the city money in the dam downtown and use the money for the streets.

Solution: Remove everyone on council

Factguy wrote: You don't have it correct on the ordinance change in 1986. The city was facing personnel cuts and went to the voters to allow the funds to be used to help with payroll. There was complete accountability and the voters knew why the money was needed and approved it. The issue isn't woulda, coulda, shouda, it is why aren't residents using the program we have to pave individual neighborhoods. If the allotment was put back, the problem still exists and takes nearly 50 years to pave the roads. Is that acceptable to you, yes or no? If no, what is your solution.

No, incorrect. The people were never told why the money was removed from the street fund until now when you told us it was to go to payroll. If that were true, we wouldn't mention the fact we didn't know what the money was used for many times on this forum. Great reason for allowing the streets to go to hell over the last 35+ years IMO. If the truth were known, most of those payroll positions were probably duplication paper-shufflers and multi-layer top-heavy management positions as per the city philosophy on department structure and they needed to be off the books to begin with. How did it get to the point of not being able to pay your people anyway? That's part of business 101 isn't it?....meeting payroll.

I told you why the people won't take part in your little "people pave your own roads" program in an earlier post. They don't want a 20 year tax added to their already high taxes......and, again, it's the city's responsibility to pave the dam roads Factguy.

Since you didn't comprehend the first time, I will say it again. It is not the people's job to pay for their own street repaving to bail out the city screw-ups when they removed the street funds in the 80's and never replaced them. We shouldn't have to pay the price for your inept leadership, but we have been doing it for decades. And, again, it wouldn't have taken 50 years, as you predict, to pave the roads if THEY hadn't raided the fund for payroll as you suggest. THEY screwed up. THEY need to fix it, no ask the people to bail them out.....again.

You asked for a solution in your post. Here tis.

Stop spending money in the downtown area and use the money to make the streets priority one. More people will benefit from using paved streets than will ever benefit from what the downtown has to offer. Simple matter of finding what benefits the most people and spending the money in those places for the biggest bang for the buck, especially when we are talking basics like street paving.

Factguy:
For all of your suggestions about how the citizens should pony up more money to do something they already are taxed for having done, you still ignore my comments regarding lack of faith in the city officials. Why is that so difficult to understand? This city has a history of local government officials making grandious promises and undertaking massive boondoggle projects. Past history in this town shows that local government is incompetent at best and criminal in their attempts to deceive the citizens about their purposes. Why have an off-year election to shift money out of road repair and into payroll? Easier to pass when fewer citizens participate. Same with the city charter changes that reduced representation in council to 5 and did away with the ward system. An 11% turnout of voters should not be sufficient to change the charter of any government. Are you a member of this local government; either an elected official or an employee? Why won't you discuss the lack of faith in city government? 

Factguy wrote: Lack of confidence in city leadership? Confusing. Most present sitting city council members were elected multiple times, some, 3, and board members in education (MCSD), have been re-elected 3-4 cycles and more. Fail to connect belief leadership is failed when members are re-elected. Don't voters typically NOT elect candidates they have no confidence, not vote them in to second and third terms? Moreover, city council members don't have an impact on streets being paved. If they allocated the funds today as it was back i n 1986, it still takes decades. Points of argument can be made on the past; what is the solution for the future? It would be neighborhood petitions of 60% majority, or a tax increase. Or, wait 50 years to have them paved (all of them).

Absolutely incredible Factguy. The sitting council members/school board members and most before them were elected for a number of reasons.

1. There is always a low voter turnout when compared to the total POTENTIAL voters the city can actually have. Most don't participate and that helps the MMF block win everytime.

2. The voters, who do show up at the polls, are the ones that present the winning majority of votes for the MMF sponsored candidates who always win and maintain the stranglehold on the city's elected offices. The MMF block of voters has always been difficult to beat just as the Repubs in Butler County have a one party stranglehold on controlling the decisions.

3. There is usually no one running against the MMF sponsored candidates. At times, the MMF candidates run unopposed. Those who choose to run that are not in the MMF candidate program have their vote counts diluted when the MMF offers a large field to candidates, reducing the impact (and election possibility) of the non-MMF candidate

4. There is an overwhelming amount of apathy among the residents of this city, most not caring at all who (or what) occupies the seats and makes the decisions regarding the city in which they live.

5. The constant occupancy of the city elected positions by the current crowd should come as no surprise and is definitely NOT an endorsement from the community. It just so happens they win by default because the other, different horses in the race have the deck stacked against them every time with the MMF money and network in place.

Factguy:

...."what is the solution for the future? It would be neighborhood petitions of 60% majority, or a tax increase. Or, wait 50 years to have them paved (all of them)."

Let's see.....neighborhood petitions of 60% majority.....a tax increase....or wait 50 years to pave the streets.......OR, RETHINK THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE CITY MONEY TO INCLUDE AN EMPHASIS ON FIXING THE STREETS. But, then again, you and the others don't see that as a choice.......but you could make it happen if you really wanted to do it. Hell, you make things happen all the time downtown while claiming to be a "cash-strapped" city. It's all in the priorities and you and the rest of city "leaders" have long ago decided the streets were of less importance than your precious downtown area. Wrong decision people.

Doug Adkins is putting a plan together that will be complete by year end 2015 addressing the asphalt and paving issue. It will take about 50 years with the funding available today to pave all streets.