SpringField Of Dreams Becoming A Reality
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Gina Ciminillo, Spring-field Local Schools’ varsity girls tennis coach, looked at the ripped up baseball/softball diamond and envisioned the six new tennis courts that will replace the five cracked ones currently used for the boys and girls teams.
“This is exciting. It will be great for the kids in the community,” Ciminillo said. “The courts have been in dire need of repair.”
On June 11, Springfield school board members and administrators broke ground on an estimated $2.5 million in renovations to the district’s athletic facilities.
Funded by a “no-new-taxes,” 1.1-mill levy that was passed in November, the district began construction of new baseball, softball and soccer facilities at the district-owned property off of Albon and Angola roads in Springfield Township and new tennis courts and a running track at McCord and Hall roads.
The plan also includes a new football and soccer stadium, training facilities and classroom at the high school, to begin after this year’s football season wraps up, said board president Ev Harris.
“We’re working on bids for those this Friday,” Harris said.
Rising construction costs and unexpected “extras” – such as a need to add underdrains at the baseball and softball diamonds and rising costs of petroleum and steel – have already added $750,000 to the total project’s cost, Harris said.
The final phase of the project will include a bus loop between the middle and high school buildings, and improvements to the four elementary schools’ playgrounds.
“This is an excellent time for our community, families and students. It’s a new beginning for our athletic program,” said Kathryn Hott, Springfield Local Schools superintendent.
Holland’s Annual Strawberry Fest Is A Big Success
A Sylvania Twirling Star leads her group with confidence in patriotic red, white and blue during Sunday’s Strawberry Festival parade. See more photos on page 5. Below left: Gary Fox races in for first place at the Strawberry Festival Rollie Run. The Rollie Run is an annual three-mile run in memory of Springfield resident Rollie Denker III. Below right: World War II veterans Fran Gardner and Ted Haupricht pose for a photo after riding on the Holland Huckleberry float during the Holland Strawberry Festival parade. Haupricht, a recent Honor Flight traveler, was on board with Gardner to help the Holland Huckleberry crew solicit support for Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio, a nonprofit organization that provides free trips for veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit war memorials. For more information, visit www.honorflightnwo.org.
TARTA Sales Tax Proposal Doesn’t Sit Well With Trustees
BY KELLY J. KACZALA — MIRROR REPORTER
Springfield Township trustees earlier this month expressed opposition to plans to place a county sales tax on the November ballot to fund the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority.
Trustees have vehemently opposed the township becoming a member of TARTA.
A transit forum group at the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments has discussed plans to add a sales tax to fund TARTA, township administrator Leslie Kohli said at a meeting June 2.
The bus system is currently funded by two property tax levies. A transit financial forum meeting, a subgroup of the transit forum, will meet on Monday, June 23 at 9:30 a.m. at the TMACOG board room to make a recommendation on the sales tax.
“The last time we met, TARTA did finally bring to the table a future plan,” Kohli said.
She said the committee is leaning toward funding TARTA with an additional 0.5 percent sales tax in Lucas County rather than property taxes.
“In order to do that, they need all nine members who are currently in TARTA to agree, which they won’t have a problem with because they all agree they would rather have a sales tax than a property tax,” Kohli said.
Kohli said the communities that are not currently served by TARTA, including Springfield Township, would have to agree to put the issue on the ballot, or the county would have to put it on the ballot as a county-wide tax.
“It is highly unlikely they would get all the jurisdictions that are currently not participating to do a resolution asking for it to be on the ballot,” Kohli said.
Trustee Andy Glenn said the sales tax proposal was pre-determined before the committee had even met.
“They’re rushing through this thing. They knew they wanted to put this on the sales tax to make it county-wide. They just are trying to make it look like they got input that led them to this decision,” he said.
Trustee Marylin Yoder said there are only two townships in Lucas County that are members of TARTA.
“There are nine townships that are not in it. Why would we, as trustees, when our residents aren’t paying a dime, make a resolution to put this on?” she said.
Glenn said the bus system benefits the city of Toledo more than the suburbs.
“What they’re doing with this is they’re basically forcing the outlying areas to pay for busing for Toledo Public Schools and for public transportation in the city of Toledo,” he said. “It’s another thing that highlights the fact that Lucas County residents have no representation at the county level. (Lucas County is) a branch of Toledo city government.”
Yoder said if the citizens wanted TARTA service, they would vote for it.
TARTA officials have suggested that Spring Meadows Shopping Center would be a good spot for a bus stop, and Kohli said she asked if TARTA could stop at Spring Meadows Shopping Center on a trial basis to see how many people would use it.
However, she said that if TARTA offered service on a trial basis, it would have to offer its TARPS service for riders with disabilities as well.
“They agreed to look into it, but I haven’t heard anything more about that,” she said.
Yoder said in 32 years, she has had only three residents call and ask for bus service.
Glenn said joining TARTA would not be cost-effective.
“Why would the residents in Springfield Township want to do this when they would save probably hundreds of thousands of dollars over a few-year period if we would just buy a bus and run our own?” Glenn said. “Anytime someone would want to ride TARTA, we could just go pick them up and drop them off at the closest TARTA bus stop.”
Yoder said the proposed sales tax is in response to House Bill 480, known as the TARTA Voters’ Rights Act. It would allow disaffected members of TARTA to leave the system without the unanimous vote of other members.
Perrysburg and Waterville have complained about the high costs of TARTA when ridership among its residents is low. TARTA collects $1.2 million from Perrysburg residents.
“This is a hurried-up thing,” Yoder said, “because of that house bill. There’s no doubt in my mind. They’re in a hurry to get this sales tax on the ballot in November.”
Glenn said Lucas County residents do not need a higher sales tax.
“There’s been a lot of talk lately about the fact that Ohio is losing jobs, specifically in Lucas County, because we’re not a business-friendly environment,” he said. “Lucas County already pays the highest sales tax in our area. Now they want to add another half percent for our public transportation system. I think retail will suffer in Lucas County if they push this through. It’s going to be just one more foot in the grave.”
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