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PERRY TOWNSHIP -- The Perry Township trustees discussed the city of Salem's recent offer to buy into the utilities department in their meeting Monday.
"I think the proposal is ridiculous, I think it's one-sided, I don't think I want to negotiate anything like that. It doesn't benefit the township whatsoever. I mean, they talked about in there that they're not going to change the water rates, they'd still be charging 50% higher. I got several calls already today because people are concerned, and they thought it was one-sided too," said trustee Tony Ieropoli.
The city's offer to the township to purchase a 22% stake in the utilities department for approximately $12 million was announced in the city council's Jan. 16 meeting as a proposed solution to future economic development and the matter of properties with deed restrictions mandating annexation into the city on Beechwood Road, Countryside Drive, and Hampton Place that would see 33 properties become forced to annex into the city one by one or risk the shutoff of their water service. However, in the board of trustees meeting Monday trustees Jim Armeni and Ieropoli both criticized the proposal, with Chairman Steve Bailey also raising questions of the proposal's feasibility.
While Bailey spoke the least harshly of the proposal, he said that the $12 million price tag of the proposal was likely unachievable as it far exceeded the township's total budget and would require massive financial assistance to meet, potentially making the matter a moot point.
"In regard to this agreement I think one of the biggest things as you saw the cost to buy into the utilities department is around $12 million, is what they're asking for. The township does not have that much money, you look at our financial report all of our balances are at $1.7 million so to come up with $12 million would be virtually impossible for us," said Bailey.
Bailey said that while he thought it was "definitely worth looking into," what funding might be available he'd like to see the utilities department's revenues and expenditures before making any decision. Armeni, Ieropoli, and Fiscal Officer John Volio all agreed that it would be necessary to assess the department's financial status before going any further.
Bailey also said that getting a loan to cover some or all the expense would be difficult for the township to repay as it would not receive any revenue from the department.
"None of the revenue that comes in from the water department comes to us, anything the department generated they would keep so that wouldn't give us money back to help pay any type of loans, so unless we were able to find a grant for the full $12 million it would be hard for us to move forward," said Bailey.
Armeni also raised concerns of accruing debt to finance the proposal saying it would be "tying the hands of future township trustees and the residents," and that he didn't feel comfortable doing so.
"It's an unknown, I can't do that, I can't do that," said Armeni.
Bailey also noted that he was hopeful to continue collaborating with the economic development committee and city council on economic development agreements separate from the proposal, and that there had been efforts to coordinate with the Sustainable Opportunity Development Center to discuss the matter with a specialist.
"When we met with city council about the annexation for the properties on Beechwood Road our goal was to look at different way the township and city could work together, it was determined the city's economic development committee and myself would explore JEDDs and other joint agreements, so we're working on that, and trying to set something up with the SOD Center to bring someone with more experience on that in, so hopefully we can continue to talk about that," said Bailey.
Ieropoli spoke most forcefully against the proposal, describing it as "one-sided" and "ridiculous," taking particular issue with the city potentially continuing to charge the 50% out-of-city surcharge to township residents even if the township did buy into the department, noting that he felt the proposal was unfair and the township shouldn't entertain it.
"From what I read of the proposal, I don't think we should get involved with that at all," said Ieropoli.
Armeni said that he felt the proposal was not in line with what the trustees and city council had negotiated and been collaborating on, and that it actively undermined those efforts. Ieropoli echoed these sentiments, noting emphasizing the unexpected nature of the proposal.
"This isn't what we were discussing with [Economic Development Chair] Jake [Gano] and them, this thing came out of nowhere," said Ieropoli.
Armeni also took issue with one of the proposal's stated goals of making the department a regional utility, arguing that it already was.
"They've always been a regional water district, when they went outside the city decades ago, when they went to Leetonia, to Washingtonville, when they supplied water to the county jail, they became a regional water district. I don't know if they knew it or not but that's what they were doing," said Armeni
Armeni and Ieropoli also pushed back against the 22% share, and $12 million price tag, with Armeni noting that he "didn't believe there were a lot," of township residents utilizing city water and sewer. Ieropoli argued that only 1,353 township residents received city water, and of that group, only 1,010 have are connected to the city sewer system.
The proposal's mandate that all pending annexation, including that of Laurie Butcher which served as the inception of the recent annexation dispute, was also criticized by Armeni and Ieropoli. Armeni said that as far as he was concerned "it was a dead issue," as the township had "two legal opinions stating that property is not annexable, it can't annex," and that Butcher "couldn't annex even if she wanted to." Ieropoli agreed noting that he felt the Butchers had been "made to suffer enough."
"It's a continuation to put the Butcher's through stress, we already proved that she is not contiguous, and the other 32 households are wondering their fate as well, just on profit the city already makes half a million by charging our residents 50% on water and sewer over their water bill," said Ieropoli.
Ultimately the trustees agreed to continue discussion of the matter with the city, with Bailey stressing that no agreement was being made and future communications were to find new information, and Armeni noting that the city must have expected the township to come up with an alternate proposal.
"I will continue to have talks with them on it, we won't completely shut it off and we'll see how things move forward on it and find out information, we're making no deal at this point at all. It's just gathering information and bringing it back for you guys. I don't see anything that's detrimental to that and I think that we need to come up with some areas and figure out how to get some growth in this area," said Bailey.
"I'd continue talking with them, but clearly, they know you're coming back with something else. Because nobody would agree with that as it's presented now. You couldn't even begin to consider that," said Armeni.
The board of Trustees will meet next at 4 p.m. Feb. 12.
mahart@mojonews.com