Jersey Township aims to lower taxes with smaller road, bridges levy on Nov. 5 ballot

When Jersey Township Trustee Dan Wetzel took office seven years ago, he said that he wanted to run the township like a business. Since then, his priority has been to reduce taxes and decrease township levies in the township — located between New Albany and Johnstown and home to about 2,550 people.

On Nov. 5, township residents will vote on a renewal and decrease of the Road and Bridge Levy, which is used for construction and repair of streets, roads and bridges. It’s been nearly 15 years since voters first passed this levy in 2010, and they have renewed it at the same rate of 3.0 mills every five years since.

This proposed issue would cut taxes on this levy in half, from 3.0 mills to 1.5 mills, reducing the burden on taxpayers.

That means residents would pay $28 annually for every $100,000 in property valuation — and the county auditor estimates the levy will collect about $325,000 each year.

“It’s a start, and hopefully we’ll revisit that in 12 months and see if we can’t possibly reduce it even more,” Wetzel said.

The reduction is possible because of new local economic agreements like joint economic development districts and a recently passed cooperative economic development agreement between the township and New Albany. The cooperative agreement will preserve existing township boundaries and give the city some power to assist with economic development in the township.

On Sept. 9, the township entered into a joint agreement with Union Township and the city of Heath to increase revenue and create jobs. The township has already begun preparing for significant growth, expecting over 10,000 workers in the next two years thanks to its proximity to the new Intel chip manufacturing facility.

“New people coming in will be paying if they’re part of the JEDD and NCAs (New Community Authority),” Wetzel said. “They’ll help offset our taxes with their income because there’ll be an income tax for them working in these JEDD areas and not our residents. So I don’t expect our residents to have to pay anything more in taxes than they are at this point in time.”

To offset rising property taxes, the township will continue to seek out these mutually beneficial agreements, placing the tax burden back on new businesses and supporting residents. Wetzel intends for this issue to set a precedent for reducing other taxes like school and fire levies in the future.

“It will reduce (taxpayers’) property taxes to start with, not a lot, but it’s a start. This is just the initiative of what I want the residents to see in the future,” Wetzel said.

Mia Fischel writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers.