Stow City Council
Vote Nov. 8th!

Two committees met tonight:

Committee of the Whole — We met for the purpose of convening into executive session, where council discussed ongoing litigation.

Finance Committee — The Finance Committee learned about what might become Stow’s fourth Community Reinvestment Area (CRA). The map of the new area follows Darrow Road north from Yukon to Lillian. The other CRAs are near Allen Road and Steels Corners, near Stow Municipal Court and near Stow-Kent Shopping Center. The gist of the CRA program is that a certain level of capital investment and new jobs will permit a business not to pay the full (or any) addition to its property taxes that would normally materialize due to the investment for a certain amount of years.

Stow City Council will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. to vote on this legislation and others.

Tomorrow, however, is one of the final three Tell A Friend Tuesdays. If you get a chance, please send an e-mail to your friends, neighbors and family in Stow. Please let them know that you support me and the other candidates who want to balance the budget, fix the roads and restore the police department to adequate staffing. Facebook is another great tool.

I still have some yard signs left, so send me a message using the “CONTACT MIKE” button above, and I will see that you get one.

The Finance Committee of Stow City Council met tonight for its monthly budget update.

Through September, Stow has collected $905,101.47 more income tax this year than through September 2010. It is still too early to draw year-end conclusions. But it’s still better to be on the positive end at this point than the alternative.

So it’s clear that the income tax revenue news was positive. But everything else was negative. As I’ve explained several times in the past six months, Stow will lose $600,000 in property tax (because of re-valuations), $450,000 in local government funds (from the state), and $300,000 in tangible personal property tax replacement (from the state). These numbers will get worse in 2013, when Stow will also see the death tax revenue (est. $300,000 per year) will run dry.

Therefore, an additional million in tax revenue (if it holds up) is good news, but it does not make up for the losses in other revenues. We also cannot forget the obligation to restore our roads fund, which is about $5 million behind.

I intend to work with the next mayor on a 10-year plan to fully restore our road repaving, to adequately staff our police force, and to rebuild our savings accounts. I have heard from every candidate for council that these are priorities, so I have no doubt that we can do it.

As the election nears, I feel better and better about our chances to install fiscally responsible folks on city council and the mayor’s seat. Use the “CONTACT MIKE” button above if you want to know how to help — or to request a yard sign.

It was great to get out this evening and meet residents. I am very appreciative of the opportunity to learn from folks about how they believe their city and governments ought to be run.

More and more, I am hearing that the mayor election is shifting. People truly believe Scott Buck is running in the lead. Whether it is true or not, it’s encouraging. We need a businessperson as mayor. Period.

The Finance Committee of Stow City Council will meet tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. to examine the 2012 budget outlook. I will report back afterward.