By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Pike Township Trustees discussed during their most recent meeting several items that came up during February’s Ohio Township Association Risk Management Authority conference.
Chair Todd Miller and Fiscal Officer Dennis Savage, who attended the conference representing Pike Township, led the discussion.
According to Miller and Savage, a citizen-led proposal to abolish property taxes in Ohio topped many conversations and at least one presentation during the conference.
They said OTARMA is opposed to the proposal and that it appears the measure’s proponents have no plan for what would replace any of the funding lost if it were to appear on the ballot and pass.
“It takes a large number of petition signers to get it on the ballot, and they said they don’t even think they’re close to having enough signatures yet on the petition, but they have until September,” Savage said.
Savage said there was a round-table discussion during the general assembly that included a state senator, a retired state senator, and one of the county auditors who was very involved with the state.
Miller and Savage also pointed out that signatures collected for the petition remain active even if the drive falls short of the minimum needed to get the measure on the November ballot, and more signatures can continue to be added over time until the requirement is reached.
“It was interesting, but there was a lot of buzz about that over the three days, obviously, because that’s pretty serious,” Miller said.
The trustees also shared their concern about property tax abolishment resulting in a sales tax around 20 percent, new income taxes, and challenges in directing that funding back to the local governments stripped of their former property tax funding.
Savage shared another discovery from a seminar presented by Columbus-based legal firm Bricker Graydon Wyatt LLP. He learned that townships can pass levies used for both fire service and road work, as authorized under the Ohio Revised Code.
“I called Annie about it, up to the auditor’s office, and she’d never heard of it. But she looked it up, she said well by golly, it’s for fire and roads,” Savage said.
He said he was told to run it past the prosecuting attorney, but he has not yet been able to.
“My thought is, in our situation, like the Lyons fire truck, that’s always an unknown expense. If we could pass this levy and use it for roads and then the years that we have extra fire expense we would have that revenue stream to purchase our share of the fire equipment. Or if one of the fire levies didn’t pass we have a backup,” Savage said.
The township does not currently have a roads levy in place.
OTHER BUSINESS
Trustees approved the 2026 road crack sealing program covering a total of about three miles of roadway to be performed by GT Contracting LLC at a cost of $29,200.
Trustees approved the application for the Ohio Department of Transportation Traffic Safety Sign Grant Program, which, if successful, would provide up to $50,000 for the replacement of signs, posts, and hardware and the installation of signs where there have not been signs in the past. The township last received a grant through the program in 2018.
Trustees approved the hiring of Sean Leonhart to perform cemetery mowing and trimming at a rate of $20 per hour.
Miller reported the Fulton County Township Association fish fry will be held April 9 at St. Caspar Catholic Church in Wauseon. He also noted he will be attending the township’s annual meeting with the Fulton County Engineer on March 6.
Miller reported the annual Fulton County Township Association meeting will be held on March 10.
The next regular meeting of the Pike Township Trustees will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 6, at the township offices located at 10810 County Road 10-2 just south of Winameg.