Jerome Township officials are wondering how long they will be able to afford fighting annexation of township property into Dublin.
At Monday night’s meeting, the Jerome Township Trustees unanimously voted to appeal a recent decision by the Union County Board of Commissioners. In May, the commissioners approved a request to annex the 44-acre Gorden property, on the northeast corner of the intersection of Post and Hyland Croy roads, from Jerome Township into Dublin.
Because the county prosecutor represents the commissioners, the township must retain other counsel for the annexation fight.
Earlier in the meeting, resident Barry Adler warned the trustees about spending money for an outside attorney. Moments after the resolution to oppose the commissioners’ decision, Adler asked where the money for the fight would come from. Fiscal officer Robert Caldwell said that was a valid question.
Trustee Ron Rhodes suggested appropriating an additional $15,000 from the general fund.
“That’s not going to be enough,” Caldwell responded.
Rhodes asked about $25,000.
“I don’t think so,” Caldwell said.
“I would say a minimum of $50,000,” Caldwell said.
Trustee Joe Craft said that before the township decided to fight the annexation, Brosius advised the attempt would take about $100,000. He said the township is at $40,000 already with no real end in sight. He said fees for the Jacquemin and Wesner property annexation requests, “haven’t started to pile up yet.”
The commissioners will hear the annexation request on the Wesner and Jacquemin properties, on the west side of Hyland Croy Road, north of Weldon Road between Hyland Croy and U.S. 33, at 9 a.m., Tuesday, July 11, in the Commissioners Hearing Room. A hearing was planned for May, but the property owners as well as Jerome Township and Dublin asked for an extension in an effort to reach an agreement.
The trustees voted to move $50,000 from the unencumbered general fund into the township’s legal fund. Officials said they want to know how high the price tag could rise.
“I think we need to ask (attorney Don Brosius) where he sees this ending out at,” Craft said. “We need to find out, but once we started opposing this annexation, we can’t stop.”
The trustees discussed whether the township had the funds to continue the fight. Officials said they would like to explore ways Brosius and his firm could trim costs. Earlier in the meeting the trustees voted to appropriate $15,000 from the township’s contingency fund to pay legal bills.
“I had to do transfers just to meet last month’s bill,” Caldwell said.
He said that does not cover the June bill, which will likely be $15,000 or more. Caldwell said the township has about $200,000 available in reserves with an anticipated $60,000 real estate tax settlement expected in the summer. Craft said the township must have at least $160,000 carryover to fund the beginning of 2018.
Officials said that while fighting the annexation is expensive, losing the property could be more so.
“If we don’t oppose this annexation, this property is gone from Jerome Township forever and ever,” Craft said.
Officials said they estimate the 16-acre parcel where Costco and other outbuildings sit could bring $35,000 a year into the general fund with additional money going to the fire department. Craft said the Gorden property, “could be four times that, it could be hundreds of thousands of tax dollars for Jerome Township.”