City elects mayor, councilman, faces funding questions
Two incumbents and one newcomer were elected to Beavercreek city council Tuesday, and a current city councilman will lead Beavercreek as mayor for the next four years.
In the mayor’s race, Don Adams captured 57.5% of the vote, while challenger Josh Ison received 42.5%. Incumbent Bob Stone was term-limited and could not run for re-election.
For Beavercreek city council, incumbent Pete Bales sailed ahead with 27.2% of the vote, earning election along with fellow incumbent Charles Curran (21.3%) and newcomer David Litteral (21.1%). Sunder Bhatla (18.0%) was fourth in the voting, followed by Edward Maloof.
“I’m humbled by the show of support that the community has for me and I think it’s a testament to our leadership and the vision that we’ve got for the city,” Bales said.
All of the winning candidates have said finding sustainable sources of city
funding is a major priority looking into their next term. Also on the list are maintaining and improving Beavercreek’s infrastructure, as well as finding and hiring a qualified police force.
“We were fortunate to pass our police levy in the last year, and so I really feel like if we can get to the staffing levels that we that we need and that we have funding for, we’ll be in really good shape,” Bales said.
Beavercreek has the highest residential property
tax rate in Greene County (although lower than several Montgomery County communities), but is the rare city with no city income tax. Beavercreek voters have rejected implementing an income tax multiple times in the last decade.
Finding a way to fund city services and infrastructure within the city’s current funding structure is the new administration’s biggest challenge.
“I don’t want to continue to do it with property tax,
because I think it’s gonna price a lot of older people out,” Adams said. “It’s going to take some sharpened pencils, to sit down and really do some evaluations on dollars and things like that. But I think we can come up with a fair and equitable plan that would reduce some property taxes and offset that.”
Down the road, council members are also looking at securing adequate facilities for Beavercreek police. CALEA, the state’s police accreditation body, has expressed concerns with the existing police headquarters on Research Park Drive, Curran said.
“I want to see it my term. I don’t know whether it will get done the first year or second year, but I’d like to see a nice police station, and (address) all the concerns that have been mentioned by CALEA,” Curran said.
Park funding a ‘no’
Beavercreek voters also soundly rejected a Beavercreek parks levy on the ballot, with 61% of voters opposed and 39% of voters in favor.
The city’s park levy was in part to fund development of a new Spring House Park, located on the corner of Grange Hall and Patterson roads.
For now, Spring House will remain undeveloped, city officials said. With the help of volunteers, the city’s parks department will maintain the new hiking trails on the 150-acre property.
Council will have to take a “hard look” at parks funding, Adams said, but it’s unlikely the parks levy will reappear on voters’ ballots anytime soon.
“The new park definitely, in my opinion, will be a destination center when it’s completed, whether it’s completed next year or 10 years from now. It will be, in my opinion, a place where a lot of people will gather, so I’m excited about that. We just have to find a way to make that happen,” Adams said.
Spring House Park is currently accessible to the public, and guests are encouraged to hike the trails and use the gravel parking lot along East Patterson Road, near the I-675 overpass.
The park levy tax money also would have gone towards staff and equipment for the entire parks district. There are no planned cuts for the park division’s proposed 2024 budget, city officials said, but looking beyond 2024, city council will review the parks budget, as well as “consider next steps and options,” officials said.
Budget work sessions for 2024, open to the public, are scheduled for Nov. 15 and 20 at 5 p.m. at Beavercreek City Hall, 1368 Research Park Drive. Council will vote to adopt the budget during their meeting on Dec. 11.
David Litteral did not respond to a request for comment.