ThisWeek New Albany 4/14 by The Columbus Dispatch/Dispatch Magazines

April 14, 2011

BOE gets first look at survey results By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers Nearly half of the residents surveyed by a local public-opinion research firm think the New Albany-Plain Local School District is excellent, board members learned at an April 11 workshop. Marty Saperstein, president of Columbus-based Saperstein Associates, explained the phone-survey results and talked about what he called “the voice”

of residents that could provide the board with objective data for future planning. One aspect of the survey that seemed confusing to some board members related to the residents’ expectations of and perceptions of the district’s performance. Saperstein said two out of three residents considered the district’s aspirations to become one of the nation’s topperforming districts to be important. But the survey also indicated that one out of

two residents felt the district already is one of the top-performing districts in the nation. Board vice president Laura Kohler called the result a “paradox” and asked for clarification. Saperstein said the district’s current level may not meet the standards people want. While they recognize the district’s achievements, they may have higher expectations for a “topperforming” district, he said. That doesn’t mean residents are in-

clined to vote for a levy to improve the district’s performance. Saperstein said only one of six residents surveyed was likely to vote in favor of a tax increase to become a top-performing district. They were, however, more likely to support a tax increase to address the district’s overcrowding. Superintendent April Domine said the district currently is 500 students above capacity and officials expect 1,000 more students to be enrolled in the next 10

years. Even though that was not mentioned in the survey, Saperstein said, four out of 10 people surveyed said overcrowding was the biggest concern for the district and seven out of 10 said they were likely to support a bond issue to address overcrowding. Saperstein said on further inspection of the reasons given in support of a bond issue, the number of residents likely to See SURVEY RESULTS, page A6

Many factors affect district’s share of local property-tax bill

FAMILY BUSINESS

By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers

By Tim Norman/ThisWeek

Matt Lee (left) talks to the audience while his brother, Ted, works on food preparation during their presentation titled “Cooking as a Family” at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts on April 10. The brothers shared their views on the importance of cooking meals in a household setting and made some of their recipes on stage. Several attendees, like sisters Julia (top right), 10, and Jamie Schroer, 12, were able to sit on stage and sample the culinary creations as they were made.

Council approves grants for local nonprofits By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers New Albany Village Council is supporting nonprofit groups in 2011 but not enough money was budgeted to fully fund all requests. “We had $60,000 budgeted for grants and $66,000 requested,” said Mayor Nancy Ferguson at the April 5 council meeting. To reach the total of $60,000, council member Colleen Briscoe said that council could consider cutting the requests of groups that asked for more money than last year, as opposed to the groups that requested the same or less funding. Several council members agreed, but the question was how to split the $6,000 in cuts among the three entities requesting more funding in

2011. The three groups were the New Albany Symphony Orchestra, the New Albany Founders Day committee and the New Albany-Plain Township Historical Society. Council member Sloan Spaulding asked if the cuts should be split equally, with each getting $2,000 less than requested. Council member Stephen Pleasnick proposed a different split based on the percentage of increase requested. He suggested giving the historical society $7,000, $1,000 less than requested; giving the symphony $10,000, $2,000 less than requested; and giving the Founders Day committee $7,000, $3,000 less than requested. Council reviewed the funding requests further, discussing the groups’potential annual carryover. Briscoe said nonprofits might get even less in grants from the village next year. In 2012,

the village will begin charging for services it provides for events. The village has provided in-kind services in the past. Council members eventually agreed to allocate funding for the three groups as Pleasnick suggested. The other groups receiving funding from council in 2011 were the New Albany Community Events Board, which will receive $30,000; the New Albany Arts Council, which will receive $4,800; and the New Albany Art League, which will receive $1,200. The art league is a branch of the arts council and it formed in December 2010, said Nathaniel Edwards, one of the group’s organizers. Edwards said after moving to New Albany in AuSee COUNCIL, page A7

Local taxpayers have the highest effective property-tax rates of all cities and villages in Franklin County, but the New Albany-Plain Local School District receives the second-lowest percentage of the total tax bill when compared to school districts in those same municipalities, according to treasurer Brian Ramsay at a recent financial review and reporting committee meeting. Several factors contribute to the district’s share of the tax bill, some of which make New Albany different from the other municipalities, according to Ramsay and Franklin County auditor Clarence Mingo. According to information from the auditor’s office, New Albany, Plain Township, Columbus and Blendon Township residents who live in the New Albany-Plain Local School District are taxed at rates ranging from 85.53 to 93.44 mills, compared to the other municipalities in Franklin County, which pay effective rates ranging from 72.38 to 81.75 mills. “Tax district 222 is the district, which includes the village, soon to be city, of New Albany,” said Mingo, a New Albany resident. “It does indeed have the highest effective residential tax rate of all the cities and villages.” There are four taxing districts within the New AlbanyPlain Local School District, all of which pay at different rates. In the unincorporated areas of Plain Township and in the Columbus portion of the school district, residents pay an effective tax rate of 85.59 mills. In the Blendon Township portion of the school district, residents pay at a rate of 93.44 mills. Blendon Township residents pay the highest rate in the New Albany-Plain Local School District because they also pay for three township levies: a road and bridge levy, a police-district levy and a fire-district levy. In the incorporated areas of New Albany, resiSee MANY FACTORS, page A2

Chrysler: New jobs boosting growth in Ohio

Trustees OK $163K for fire department spending

By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers

By LORI WINCE largest expense, $94,718.01 to the ThisWeek Community Newspapers Sutphen Corp., is for repair of the township’s ladder truck, which was Plain Township trustees approved damaged in a Feb. 2 crash. Howevmore than $163,000 in expenses for er, all but $1,000 — the township’s the fire department at their April 6 deductible — is being covered by meeting. insurance, Hoovler said. The funds will pay for equipment, The other funding requests intraining and some repairs that are cluded: being reimbursed through insurance. • $8,500 to reimburse firefighter Fire Chief John Hoovler said the David Lloyd for training at Colum-

Seventy percent of the jobs that have been created in New Albany since 2009 are new to Ohio, community-development director Jennifer Chrysler told village council April 5. Chrysler said the two newest companies announcing projects in the village’s business park east — Alene Candles and Axium Plastics — are bringing jobs to the state that didn’t already exist. See NEW JOBS, page A3

bus State Community College. The department is hoping to get more credit for allowing Columbus State students to ride in their vehicles as they are fulfilling a college requirement. Credits translate into savings in class costs, Hoovler said. • $35,545 to J. Evans and Associates for seven computers and docking stations, with warranties. Assistant Fire Chief Jack Rupp said the

computers would replace 10-yearold machines now used in the department’s vehicles. • $7,398.42 to BearCom for 10 walkie-talkies, 10 speaker microphones, five spare batteries, seven mobile radios, software and cable. Hoovler said the department maintains a backup radio system that also See TRUSTEES, page A9