Jan. 6, 2011
Council OKs funds for improvements By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Grandview Heights City Council Monday approved $159,000 in equipment purchases as part of its capital improvements budget for 2011. The appropriations include $81,000 to purchase three cruisers and $10,000 to buy a motorcycle for the police department. Originally only two cruisers were to be purchased this year, but council approved adding the third vehicle because the make and model will soon be dis-
A closer look According to the plan, 2011 will have the lowest capital improvement expenditures, totaling $233,500.
continued. The ordinance also appropriates $34,000 for repairs at the municipal pool. The work will involve the filter, pump, drain line valve, electrical and robotic cleaner. A total of $29,000 was also appropri-
ated to purchase a cardiac monitor/defibrillator for the fire department. The items were presented to council for its approval now because of timeliness issues. Other proposed capital improvement projects will be presented to council later in the year. At a finance committee meeting held prior to the council meeting, Mayor Ray DeGraw presented a capital improvement plan for 2010 through 2014. The plan projects capital improvement purchases and projects would total $1,973,500 for the five-year period.
It breaks down which projects and purchases would be made each year. According to the plan, 2011 will have the lowest capital improvement expenditures, totaling $233,500. The highest budget is for 2012, with projected capital improvement expenditures totaling $636,000. The year’s projected expenditures includes replacing a pumper, at a cost of $400,000. The provision included in the income tax levy voters approved last May that 5 percent of all city income tax revenue be set aside for capital improvements is already paying dividends and making it
easier to plan for projects and expenditures, said Patrik Bowman, director of administration/economic development. All individual expenditures ultimately have to be approved by council. In other business Monday, council approved an ordinance to accept a $43,114 grant from the Columbus Foundation for the Pierce Field Accessible Playground Program. The city will be replacing the playground equipment at Pierce Field and installing a safer surface for the site. See COUNCIL, page A2
Long-term planning can begin
LEARNING AT THE LIBRARY
After years in ‘survival mode,’ city is ready to take on new projects By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Eileen McNeil, youth service manager for the Grandview Public Library, tells the story of how a cold dog became a hot dog during the Music and Movement program at the library on Jan. 3. The program is designed for children ages 2 to 5 and is held each Monday at 1 p.m. The library offers a similar program, Saturday Story Stomp, on the first and third Saturday of the month at 11 a.m.
Gala invitations mailed out; reservation deadline Jan. 21 By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Reservations for the 2011 Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff Education Foundation gala are due by Jan. 21. Invitations to the 19th annual event were mailed Dec. 27, said Julie Freeman, who is serving as gala co-chair with Nicole DeVere. The gala, which serves as the foundation’s main fundraiser, will be held from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29 in the Archie Griffin Ballroom at the new Ohio Union on the OSU campus. “We’re really excited about being at the Ohio Union for this year’s gala,” Freeman said. “It’s a great facility that people have a
lot of interest in. If you’ve wanted to check out the new Union, this is the perfect opportunity.” The theme of this year’s gala is “Gala Unpinned.” “It’s a feeling that there are no boundaries or limits to what the fundraising aspect of the gala can be,” Freeman said. “One of the lines we’ve used is ‘unpin your expectations at the Union.” Last year’s event raised about $50,000 for the foundation. The gala will again include a social hour, dinner and dancing to the music of Mojoflo. The cost is $150 per person. Anyone who did not receive an invitation can make a reservation by emailing Free-
man at jafree422@sbcglobal.net or DeVere at nicolefd@columbus.rr.com. The evening will also include live and silent auctions, featuring a variety of items for bid, including tickets at the 45-yard line for next season’s OSU-Michigan State football game and tickets to the Feb. 15 basketball game between the two schools. “Grandview businesses have been so generous in donating items for the auctions,” Freeman said. “We also again have a number of art projects created by Grandview students and they always receive a lot of bids.” Items can still be donated for the auctions by contacting either of the gala chairs. See GALA, page A2
After several years of being in “survival mode,” the city of Grandview Heights can begin to do some long-term planning in 2011, Mayor Ray DeGraw said. “We’re certainly not out of the woods yet, but we can see the future now,” he said. “We have a long-term financial plan in place and it’s a conservative plan to control spending.” To survive over the last several years, the city has left positions unfilled, worked to control expenditures and deferred a number of needed projects, DeGraw said. “We haven’t had the luxury of planning forward,” he said. “The last seven years we’ve been in survival mode. We’ve had to do without to get by.” Voters’ approval of an income tax levy last May has given the city some breathing room, DeGraw said, and it also saved the city from “a dire situation.” Without the levy’s approval, the city would likely have not been able to maintain its level of operations in 2011, he said. “We have not collected quite what we thought we would, but we’ve been able to make adjustments,” DeGraw said. “We make a plan and projections for our budgets, but you always have to plan to adjust because of variables,” city council president Steve Reynolds said. “We’re bracing for the level of state funding to be cut back this
year.” The levy’s provision that 5 percent of all city income tax revenue will be set aside for Ray capital imDeGraw provements has also helped allow the city to begin longrange planning for its capital needs, DeGraw said. Steve In 2011, the Reynolds mayor said, he hopes the city can begin to do some longterm planning for addressing the needs of its aging buildings, including the municipal building and fire house and the community center. “We haven’t been in a position to address some of our needs building-wise,” he said. “We have to look at them long-term for the city and look in relation to the (revenue from) Grandview Yard long-term. We need to look at all our needs and do some prioritizing.” Council will be exploring the option of bond financing as a way to help fund large infrastructure needs, Reynolds said. The parks commission is developing plans for construction of a new multi-purpose building See PLANNING, page A3
Financial issues occupied city, village, schools in 2010 By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Like many families, the city of Grandview Heights, village of Marble Cliff and Grandview Heights City School District spent 2010 addressing financial concerns. Early in the year, Grandview Heights City Council discussed whether to place an income tax increase on the May ballot. Finance director Bob Dvoraczky presented council with a grim financial outlook for the city if an income tax increase was not approved by voters. He said that
without an income tax increase, the city would run out of cash before the end of 2011. The income tax increase voters approved in 2005 was set to expire at the end of 2010. Mayor Ray DeGraw said the city was being hurt by the changes in retirement
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contributions and the increased cost of health insurance, which makes up about 10 percent of the city budget. In early February, DeGraw presented council with a plan to ensure the city’s positive cash balance could be extended through 2015. The plan included gaining passage of an income tax levy to replace the expiring measure, the assumption that city expenditures would increase by no more than 3 to 3.5 percent each year, hiring no additional personnel through 2016 except the positions already funded in the budget and immediately cutting $300,000
from the current budget. After subsequent meetings with department heads, DeGraw presented council in March with proposed modifications to reduce the 2010 budget by $323,031. Dvoraczky showed council updated financial projections showing that even with passage of a 2.5 percent income tax levy, the city would have a negative yearend cash balance in 2015. At its Feb. 18 meeting, council voted 5-2 to place a levy on the May 4 ballot to increase the city’s income tax to 2.5 percent. The levy would also increase the credit given to Grandview residents who
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pay income taxes to another municipality to 2.25 percent. The levy resolution also stated that 5 percent of all income tax revenue would be specifically allocated for capital expenditures. On May 4, the city’s levy passed overwhelmingly with about 63 percent of the vote. A Grandview resident who works in the city and earns $50,000 will pay $125 more in income taxes each year. The increase to a 2.5 percent income See FINANCIAL ISSUES, page A2
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