Greg White

1125 Hillcrest Drive

Bucyrus, Ohio 44820

24th January 2024

Letter to the Editor

Crawford County Now

Bucyrus, Ohio 44820

 

Dear Editor,

Submitting this letter to the Editor of Crawford County Now. This letter, I believe, meets the requirements and standards of your professional   organization for public information for the general public.

The citizens of Bucyrus should know that many things are happening with the city’s financial state that are going to affect your finances. With the possibility that The State of Ohio could take over on how our city operates and spends our tax dollars.

These issues and problems started many years ago, but the formal administration and council members turned a blind eye and did nothing to address these concerns. Basically, they dumped this on our new mayor and council members to figure out how to fix it. If you don’t believe me, go back and watch the past council and committee meetings on the city webpage for yourself.

The issues and problems: Sewer rates are being increased over the next three years; 15% first year, 14% second year and 13% third year. Remember that this rate hike depends on your water usage that you are charged per month. Don’t believe that you are going to pay only $2.33 per month as someone stated.

The real calculation is far from this statement. Let’s say that you are a usage 6 on your water bill, your sewer rate is $43.44 X 15% = $ 6.52 more per month (that is $ 78.24 more for the first year). That means your sewer rate is $ 49.96 per month for the first year.

The second year your sewer rate on this same usage will be an increase of $ 6.99 per month, and your new month rate is $ 56.95 ($ 83.88 more this year).

The third year, an increase of $ 7.40 per month, and your new month is $64.35 ($ 88.80 more this year).

These figures are based on current rates provided by the City of Bucyrus Utility Department. This depends on your water usage per month and can change from month-to-month. Plus, if the city increases water rates any time during this period, then everything changes. You could be paying even more on your sewer rate.

In all fairness to the current administration and council, these updates need to be made, because the Ohio EPA has mandated these updates for many years now. But nothing was done until now, WHY?

For you out-of-town workers, get ready to pay out on your taxes. Yes the formal administration and council said that they weren’t going against their words about this. However, they didn’t want to be the bad people in our community. Basically, they knew this was coming, but wanted to leave office saying all the great things they did for this community. Well, that just stinks!

Currently the city (per the city auditor) has less than $ 600,000.00 in funds on hand. With the current monies coming in, are less each month. But payroll, benefits and cost are going up beyond what is coming in.

That means, someone has to pay for this, but WHO? Well, everyone is going to have to pay in some way. The out-of-towns first, but the city won’t see that money until 2026 according to Kelly Schimpf (Income Tax). The current tax for Safety Forces does not bring in the money to cover the cost of these services (yet it is in the budget). Are there going to be more taxes very soon, YES! With the City of Bucyrus population, little more than one third (⅓) pay income taxes and another third (⅓) pay very little income tax (mostly student workers and retired citizens).

And let’s not forget what Kelly Schimpf said, that there is over $ 1,000,000.00 in past due income taxes still owed to the City of Bucyrus. It was turned over to the State Auditor Office for collections. So why isn’t the state doing a better job in getting this money? But wait, there are fees attached in getting this money, so the city only gets a certain amount of this money. It is not what you think it is.

What is next, property taxes, increase in sales tax and income taxes. In fact, right now the Crawford County Auditor Office is in the process of property revaluation of your property for tax purposes. That means your property taxes could be going up. Payable in 2025 for 2024 taxes, stay tuned for more on this.

Then there is the word, annexation of property into the city. They are going to look at annexing property and business for more money. That issue takes a very long time to achieve and then if these people want into the city. Then these townships aren’t going to just give up their tax base, I don’t think that they are just going to hand this over without a fight. Plus the County Commissioners have to approve this. Oh, this is an election year and two seats are up for running in November.

The overall picture is not looking great for our city and the community has a whole. The closing businesses and the loss of over $ 350,000.00 in income taxes to the city, is putting a drain on money.

Where are the jobs for our city?

Why do over 1,550 residents work out-of-town for employment? My answer, there are better jobs that pay more outside of our city.

The city invested over $ 50,000.00 a year to bring jobs into the city, but on this investment, the city only got back a little over $ 21,000.00 in taxes. Plus, there are three locations within the city that could be developed for a company to create employment for our community.

With this said, I encourage people to get involved in your government and watch the City of Bucyrus Council and Committee meetings on the city webpage. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind or opinion (remember in a positive manner, don’t want to be removed from a meeting or public forum for bad behavior). I applaud the women who spoke at the last committee meeting about the out-of-town income tax issue. She stated that the last time she spoke, she had backlash for speaking about an issue. Well, don’t be, I totally believe that this new administration and council wants to hear from their residents about issues that affect them. As one council person stated, they voted me into office to find out these problems.

How this council acts upon these issues and problems, we will have to see on this. Are they going to sit back a wait or are they going to take action on finding the solutions to these issues. Only time will tell about this.

As some of you know, I attend these meetings and voice my concerns on issues. I have helped others with issues that affect them and shown them how to put things into perspective and do their homework. Some people have disagreed and agreed with me on some of these issues. To those who disagree, that’s ok. I am not offended by this, it actually makes me stronger in helping others with their problems.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Greg White