Lawyer to fight Xenia’s annexation Xenia stands to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars in new income tax revenue each year by annexing Central State University, and the school would get city services, such as emergency and water services, at a reduced
City, Central State would benefit from annexation, according to new report questioned by opponents.
forward in opposing this, for as long as it takes,” Xenia Twp. Administrator Alan Stock said.
Township trustees have retained Wanda Carter at a rate of $200 per hour to represent their side. Carter is a Columbus-based attorney recognized statewide as a leading expert on fighting annexations.
Carter declined comment, stating she is not at liberty to discuss the issue in public at this time.
Xenia will use the cityowned bicycle path to get from its current corporation limits to the 159 acres of university property it wants to annex. That type of request is referred to as string and balloon annexation.
City officials will file the petition on the first phase of annexing the campus to Greene County commissioners for their review. If there are no objections filed and the necessary paperwork is in order, the commissioners are obligated to sign off on the petition and the annexation will move forward.
Stock maintains that the proposed annexation is unusual, and there are better, more equitable ways to create partnerships for growth, such as creating a joint economic development district.
Stock took Xenia council members to task at their last meeting regarding the city’s July 31 economic impact report. He cited the report’s conclusion on maintaining campus streets that states “roads should be resurfaced at least once every 25 years.”
Stock cited the report’s finding that a water rate increase for all city water customers will have to be implemented, and questioned the report’s conclusion that the CSU partnership would only lead to a “marginal” increase in workload on the city’s existing staff.
“The township believes this potential annexation is seriously flawed if the city moves forward as proposed,” Stock said during the public meeting.
The report was delivered to the city’s advisory board, which was tasked with evaluating the pros and cons of annexing the university into the city.
The report states the city and university have discussed annexation for years, “largely because CSU’s location has always presented fundamental challenges for its continued growth.”
The campus is “a relatively urban environment requiring urban services,” the report states, and Xenia Twp. “does not provide all of the public services needed by CSU.”
Central State pays surcharges for Xenia water services and is under contract with the city for Fire/ EMS services. Costs associated with those services would go away if the campus is annexed into the city.
“Annexation will also provide CSU with qualitative benefits from other city services such as police protection, roadway maintenance, professional planning, economic development and public relations services,” according to the report. “The city is generally able to provide a greater staff capacity than the township to provide a range of government services and develop mutually beneficial ‘town and gown’ partnerships.”
So-called town-and-gown partnerships are those between higher-education institutions and the municipalities within which they are located. The city’s report cites as successful examples the “revitalization efforts on the edges of the Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, and University of Dayton campuses.”
The new income tax revenue that would be paid by CSU employees to the city is estimated at $336,000, according to the report.
But by annexing the campus, the city picks up the cost of providing Fire/EMS services and would need to hire a part-time fire inspector, a total estimated impact to the budget of $174,750, according to the report.
Maintaining roads around campus is estimated to be an added cost of $2,290 annually, according to the report.
Water rates would need to be increased by approximately $3.60/year per average household to accommodate the loss in revenue from the surcharge CSU is paying to receive water services.
When combining all factors, the “net impact to the city’s general fund is estimated at $158,960,” according to the report.
The report concludes that annexing CSU will result in a net fiscal gain for the city and improvements in jobs, education and quality of life.
“Staff believes that this annexation has the potential to be a historic turning point for both the city and CSU that leads to a mutually prosperous future,” the report states.
Xenia City Council will need to pass a series of resolutions to complete the annexation, the last of which is not slated to be done until 2019.