May 21, 2000
Annexation law changes a good idea?
By Erik Burriss
Staff Writer
There are as many opinions about the proposed changes to the state's annexation law as there are people. In Seneca County, city officials are generally opposed to the changes while county officials are generally for them.
Sen. Larry Mumper, R-Marion, said he supports the bill because its terms are the result of a compromise between the Ohio Municipal League and the Ohio Township Association. Rep. Rex Damschroder, R-Fremont, said he is unsure of the bill's chances of passage because he doesn't think the issue is a priority for the governor.
The bill, introduced in the Senate by President Pro Tempore Robert Cupp, R-Lima, would allow the counties' boards of commissioners to consider the impact of annexation on the surrounding territory.
"If the commissioners have to make the decision, I would like to have more latitude," County Commissioner Jeff Wagner said.
"It's too stringent," Fostoria Mayor John Davoli said.
Fostoria's City Council passed a resolution May 2 saying the bill would "prevent the growth of municipalities" and would create "an unfair and ultimately unworkable general good of the surrounding area standard."
The bill would allow automatic annexation if all of the landowners in the territory proposed for annexation wish to become part of a municipality.
"If they want to be annexed, they should be," Wagner said. "If they don't, they shouldn't be."
Tiffin City Administrator Wayne Stephens said the city must sometimes annex against the wishes of the property owner to avoid creating pockets of land that are not part of the city. An extreme example, he said, is a trailer in the Clinton Mobile Home Park that the city limits run through.
"Technically, if a domestic violence occurs in half of the trailer, the police could not have jurisdiction to make an arrest," Stephens said, "and vice-versa with the sheriff's department."
Revenue sharing between cities and townships for taxes collected on annexed territory would also be established. However local agreements, such as the ones between Tiffin and Eden, Clinton and Hopewell townships, would take precedence over the state's mandate. As part of the agreements, the townships agreed not to oppose an annexation attempt as long as the city follows the established procedure.
"I don't think that Seneca County will be as impacted as much as some of the other counties will because we already have an agreement in place," County Commissioner Janet Dell said.
County Commissioner Ken Estep said the Legislature has been generally more supportive of cities in the last 50 years and this bill may just be an indication that the pendulum is swinging the other way.
However, "I think it will probably work as much in the cities' favor," he said.
"If it does pass, we'll just have to work within the parameters of it," Estep said.