Sherwood council discuss issues on
enacting an income tax
Sherwood Village Council decided to form a committee to look into implementing an income tax and what would have to be done if the village joined the Regional Income Tax Agency.
Chuck Hawk of RITA was at the council meeting Wednesday to explain services the agency provides and what options are available for the village. The agency would handle all income tax paperwork and collections for the village. Currently, the agency serves 96 municipalities in Ohio. Hawk said if Sherwood joined the agency, everything would be ready to start collecting income taxes by Jan. 1, 2003. The maximum the income tax would be initially is 1 percent, Hawk said. "We would have to know some time in the next two to three weeks, because we need to get the paperwork going," Hawk said.
Councilman Jim Hohenburger said there would be several issues the village would have to decide upon if it joined RITA. Some of these issues include tax credits, ordinances, if there will be tax on teen-age employees and so on. Council said that community forums also would be conducted before any decision was made on the issue.
Village solicitor Ted Penner explained how the income tax would work. Penner said that a resident of Sherwood who worked in another town with an income tax equal to or greater than Sherwood's would pay the other town's rate and none to the village only if there is a 100 percent tax credit with that other town.
"If someone lives in Defiance and worked in Sherwood, then there would be withheld 1 percent in Sherwood and .3 percent in Defiance," he said, adding that Defiance's rate is 1.3 percent "So, there would be no difference for the employee."
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-Affected would be individuals who live in Sherwood and do not currently pay a municipal income tax.
Council members Jim Hohenburger and Joan Raker were named to the committee to look into the various options and issues surrounding joining RITA.
Also during the meeting, council heard from Rick Weaver of Poggemeyer Design Group about funding for the wastewater treatment plant improvements. Weaver said the village should be ready to accept a bid for the project. The lowest bid submitted was $92,600. Weaver said the village has a $20,000 community development block grant (CDBG), leaving $72,600 to finance for the project
"We recommend going after a loan for $82,600," he said. 'That is with a 10 percent contingency just in case something arose, that way we'd have the money available."
Weaver said the village recommended obtaining a loan through the Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA) or Sherwood State Bank
"The CDBG is to be used by the end of this year" he said "We have to make a decision with the contractor by Oct 19. That doesn't give us enough time to get to the OWDA finance committee on the 24th." Weaver said the council could start the paperwork for the OWDA loan, which is a 10-year loan at a 5.64 percent interest rate. That way, the village would have the funding in place if needed, If receiving a loan through the bank, the village would have to notify the OWDA by Oct 26 so OWDA funds would be available to other municipalities. Council agreed and voted to apply for the OWDA loan.
In other business, council:
- decided not to pursue an ordinance placing a 15-minute limit for individuals speaking at council meetings
- hired two firefighters
- was told the next board of zoning appeals meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. Oct 8.
- plans to send three council members to an Emergency Management Agency meeting on Oct 15, where individuals from the National Weather Service will be on hand to answer questions.
