As Dublin City School District takes action to deal with growth in the area, Jerome Township is also responding.
The Dublin City School District Board of Education recently voted to put an initiative on the ballot. If approved, the initiative would fund several new school buildings, including an elementary school and a middle school in Jerome Village. The issue could also fund additions at Dublin Jerome High School. The district already owns land, donated by the developer, for the buildings.
If the November issue passes, the elementary school will open in the fall of 2020 and the middle school would open in the fall of 2021.
“That is really going to push us to move,” Jerome Fire Chief Doug Stewart told the trustees.
Stewart explained that when Jerome Village was in the planning process, the developer pledged money to fund a new fire station and equipment. The station was to be built either when the development reached a certain number of homes, the fire chief deemed it necessary or there were schools built in the development.
The chief explained Jerome Village will pay $5.5 million for the fire safety improvements as well as new township offices. Stewart was not the chief at the time of the agreement and said he doesn’t know all the details yet.
“I have to dig into the contract,” Stewart said, adding that he will work with Jerome Village.
Stewart explained from the time ground is broken on a new fire station, it will take a year before it can be occupied. Likewise, he said, it will take a year from the time a contract is signed until a new piece of equipment can be delivered.
“There is a lot of moving parts,” Stewart said. “I think the sooner we begin moving on these things, the better it is going to be.”
Union County Auditor Andrea Weaver was at Monday night’s meeting also.
“The busyness of Union County and in my office is happening here (Jerome Township),” Weaver said. “It is good. It is very good, but it is very busy.”
She added that Jerome Township has “new plats and new construction every day.”
“It is certainly growing,” Weaver said. “It brings good things but it brings work too.”
The auditor said her office is in “full gear-up mode” for the 2019 revaluation process. She said the company she contracts with is already in the process of taking pictures of every building in the county. She said for 2017, Jerome Township had property valued at more than $350 million. Trustee Ron Rhodes said in 1991, the township’s total value was $54 million.
Weaver said she believes the value will increase in the revaluation.
“It is going to go up. How much? My crystal ball is as clear as everybody, but I just don’t see anything going down except CAUV (Current Agricultural Use Value),” Weaver said.
The CAUV program allows land used for commercial agriculture to be valued based on the agricultural use of the land rather than its potential use. The value of the land is based on a complicated formula that uses average yield, soil type, price of crops and other factors. Because state law requires other land to be taxed based on “highest and best” use, the CAUV program allows working farmers a lower tax bill.
Weaver said her office has been watching agricultural valuations in neighboring counties. She said there is “too much evidence around the state” to believe the valuation on agricultural land will increase.
She said that soil rates and agricultural property values “dropped tremendously” in Hardin County when it went through its recent revaluation.
“It is a pretty clear bet values are going to drop in…agriculture,” Weaver said.
She said that decline could mean a reduction in collection for some levies.
The auditor said agriculture values for Union County will probably not be known until June of next year.
“At this point in time, it is way too early for us to forecast,” Weaver said.