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GOSHEN TOWNSHIP -- The board of trustees approved adjustments to the township's special assessment for street lighting in its meeting Tuesday.
The trustees unanimously approved a 4% increase in the township's special assessment for electricity for 2027. The trustees and Fiscal Officer Michele Barratt said that the increase was being made to keep up with ongoing inflation. Barratt said that currently electricity rates were expected to rise 3.8% next year.
"We don't get all that money because some people don't pay their taxes, but if everything was paid in full, we would get $10,427.68 this year. Next year that would just move to $10,845.38. That's in that fund we've kind of been losing year on year," Barratt said.
The trustees also voted to create a separate fund for the township's 2026 Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) project, and to proceed with the submission of South Smith Goshen Road as the township's OPWC project for 2027 with a commitment of approximately 23% of the total project cost. Barratt said that the township is supposed to have a separate fund for each OPWC project and that the permanent appropriations for the new fund would be $200,321.
Other financial matters included a motion to declare the township's old cement mixer surplus with a value less than $2,500 in preparation for a potential sale. Road Foreman Adam Corll suggested the mixer be declared surplus in the trustees July 14 meeting. At that meeting, Corll explained that while the mixer used to be used to pour cement foundations for grave markers, it had since been replaced by a newer model and takes up a lot of space at the department's garage.
During his report, Police Chief John Calko said that the department did not replace a cruiser this year and would need to do so next year. He also said that many police departments have been moving to a lease structure to replace cruisers which sees the department pay $17,000 per year for four years, after which it purchases the vehicle for $1. He suggested utilizing the leasing approach could allow the department to replace multiple cruisers at once with the same yearly budget.
"That's fully outfitted. They put the lights on it, they put the graphics on it, and they guarantee it. It's not yours, but you're leasing it for four years at $17,000 per year. That breaks down to be about $54,000 per year, I believe, for three cars," Calko said. "Our budget now is 70, so every year we would have a carryover of $16,000, but when we're done in four years now you have to worry about leasing six cars, so you almost have to have the carryover build up every year. It's just a thought. I know we buy one car a year for 70, we could do technically three next year and then we wouldn't have to do three more until probably three years down the road."
No action was taken at that time.
The board of trustees will meet next at 6 p.m. on Sept. 8.