January 20, 2011
Chamber, city look to 2011 and beyond By KIM TOLLEY This Week Community Newspapers After struggling with tough decisions in 2010, Grandview Heights’ officials and business owners say they are optimistic about their city’s business and financial prospects in the new year. Last week, city officials and residents gathered at the new Hyatt Place in Grandview Yard for the Grandview Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon. Those attending networked and exchanged ideas about new business prospects for 2011. “Despite the lingering recession over
the past two years, the economic downturn…and political gridlock affecting budgets and education funding, we are healthy in many ways, including our Ray DeGraw membership numbers, finances, and program participation,” said chamber president Dr. Francis Wilamosky. “Tough times don’t last but tough people do.” Presenting his state of the city address at the meeting, Grandview Heights Mayor Ray DeGraw noted that city officials had begun the last year with un-
certainty. “At the beginning of the year, the financial situation was interesting,” he recalled. “The council told us we needed to reduce the budget by $323,000.” Because of the financial constraints and council’s directive, the city put off replacing employees in vacant positions. It also delayed a number of infrastructure projects and reduced the budgets of the police and fire departments. In addition, DeGraw credited the city’s residents with overwhelmingly approving an increase in the city’s property and income taxes and voting for levies in May that aided both the city’s
schools and public library. Although the tax increases allowed the city to avoid cutting $1-million from the budget, DeGraw noted that there are still challenges ahead. “Our concern is that revenue will be less than expenditures for 2011,” he stated. “We are concerned about limited job growth this year.” DeGraw told the crowd that Grandview Heights could move from the survival mode it has been operating under for the past several years and that the city wants to develop both a short- and long-term community capital plan and future service goals. “The chamber is stronger than it’s
been in years,” he said. “We’re perceived as business-friendly. The city is moving in a positive direction.” During the lunch, Wilamosky and the chamber’s executive director Michelle Wilson thanked outgoing board members Linda Newberry of First City Bank, Pat Meyer of Member’s First Credit Union and Ron Cameron of Safeguard Business Printing for their service. The chamber also welcomed new board members Ann Graf of Holbrook and Manter; Jim Amstutz, owner of Ohio Power Tool; and Jason Clayton of Vital Film Works. www.ThisWeekNews.com
Grandview schools
Uncertainty about state aid is budget wild card narios were requested by the
By ALAN FROMAN
ThisWeek Community Newspapers OBM.
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
Mayor Ray DeGraw, in hat, and other dignitaries cut the ribbon during the reopening of the Windsor Building along Grandview Avenue. The building was destroyed by fire two years ago.
Grand reopening celebrated at site of building destroyed by fire By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Sunny skies and moderate winter weather greeted the grand reopening of Grandview Avenue Physical Therapy Monday at the Wagenbrenner Company’s new building on Grandview Avenue. The weather conditions were far different exactly two years earlier, when a fire damaged the two-story Kingswood Building beyond repair. On Jan. 17, 2009, frigid
temperatures played havoc with firefighting efforts and caused water from the fire hoses to freeze on the nearby trees. GAPT is the only original tenant to move back into the Wagenbrenner building site, now called The Windsor Building, on the east side of Grandview Avenue between Third and Fifth avenues. The reopening event included a ribboncutting ceremony, door prizes, free massages and food samples offered by two other future Windsor Building tenants, Matt the
Miller Restaurant and Orange Leaf Yogurt. GAPT is now open for business and excited to be back in its original location, owner Kevin Kerchansky said. “I think it’s fantastic what they’ve rebuilt here,” he said. “As soon as we saw the design, we knew we wanted to come back. We were able to find a temporary location within two weeks of the fire, but we always wanted to come back here. It’s the Grandview See WAGENBRENNER, page A2
Despite uncertainty about state funding for schools, Grandview Heights City Schools treasurer Tammy Rizzo had some simple advice for the board of education Jan. 11 during her tax budget hearing presentation. “Do not panic,” Rizzo said. “Over the course of the next six months you will hear many different budget projections and scenarios for cutting funding for public education in the 2012-13 biennial budget,” she said. Ohio is facing a projected $8billion deficit heading into the biennium budget, Rizzo said. Gov. John Kasich has until March 15 to submit a two-year budget plan and state legislators must pass a balanced budget by June 30. The State Board of Education recently submitted a biennial budget request calling for a 2.4 percent increase for fiscal year 2012 and a 2.1 percent increase for fiscal year 2013 over the current spending levels, she said. The department will also submit to the Office of Budget and Management two scenarios that reflect flat and 90 percent funding for fiscal year 2011 General Fund levels, Rizzo said. The sce-
Rizzo also presented a recap of the Grandview Yard project. According to the compensation agreement approved by the board, the district will receive 11 percent of the exempt value of all real property tax revenue for non-residential units and 15 to 60 percent for residential units, depending on the number of units and year of assessment. The agreement also includes a “hold-harmless” clause that prevents the district from losing revenue as a result of a reduction to the assessed value of real property during the construction of the yard. In February 2010, the assessed value decreased about $2-million, so the district is due a “hold-harmless” payment of $129,243, Rizzo said. In December, Nationwide Realty Investors started the process to create a fund through which the payment would be made and it is expected to be about a year before the creation of the fund is approved by the Franklin County Auditor’s Office, she said. Revenue assumptions for the district include that the transitional state aid guarantee reflects a 10 See BUDGET, page A2
License agency helps Northwest Kiwanis fund its programs By GARY BUDZAK
a 26-year veteran of the club and Around 1,300 kids from kinder-
ThisWeek Community Newspapers governor-elect of the Ohio dis- garten through sixth grade cur-
If you do business at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles License Agency on Cemetery Road in Hilliard, you’re helping the Northwest Kiwanis club fund its programs in Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff. The Kiwanis License Agency offers driver’s license, plates, temporary tags, vehicle titles, outof-state inspections, voter registration, state ID cards and notary service. “As best we can figure, we started as a deputy registrar in 1935 (the club was formed in 1928), and have pretty well continuously had an agency ever since at various locations over all those years,” said Bill Snellgrove,
trict. The agency used to be run by Kiwanians and their spouses, Snellgrove said, but now it’s professionally staffed. “We have volunteers spend a lot of hours over there overseeing it,” said Jim Cowardin, secretary for Northwest Kiwanis. “We bring outside money into the community.” “We use the profits to fund our projects in the community,” said Snellgrove, a former two-time president of the club who chairs the license agency committee. Among those projects is a youth soccer program, which is the reason Snellgrove joined the service organization whose motto is “changing the world one child, and one community, at a time.”
rently participate in the Northwest Kiwanis Youth Soccer program. “I was coaching my kids, that’s what drew me in” Snellgrove said. “Then I made a lot of friends and saw a lot of good things the club was doing, so we just continually got involved in more things.” Cowardin said he’s been a Kiwanian for more than 30 years, starting with the Key Club in high school. He remains a member because of the Kiwanis ideals and the camaraderie. “It’s really a fine organization. I wouldn’t be sticking around this long if it wasn’t,” he said. By Chris Parker/ThisWeek “I really liked to get involved in giving back,” Snellgrove said. William Snellgrove III, right, and office manager Chris Stahl in the Kiwanis License Agency on Jan. 13. The agency offers a variety of license services and proceeds benefit projects of the Northwest
See KIWANIS, page A3 Kiwanis Club. The agency is located at 4740 Cemetery Road in Hilliard.
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