Merging the city and township and the local park district into one government would raise the overall cost of services, reported Dr. Hugh Hinton, associate professor of public administration, who conducted the study. However, the study predicts that the cost could be offset by adding an earned income tax and through some continued reliance on property tax.

“Costs would rise,” Hinton said. “The per capita cost of services to townships is always lower than cities. Townships on a per capita basis provide services for less than cities.” The quality of government services probably would not be affected by merger, according to the draft report. The final line of the study concludes: “There are a number of alternatives to a merger, and there is no immediate pressure to make an irreversible decision.”

Based on the best-case scenario in the study, the city and township, if merged, would have increased expenses, said Trustee Terry Blair. Trustees noted that the cost of merger appears to be even greater than what the UT study cites, particularly in the areas of police services and road maintenance and improvement.

Study Omits Cost of Road Improvements
“The financial study fails to mention several major capital improvement projects,” said Trustee Lee Snyder. “Currently, these projects are the financial responsibility of the Montgomery County Engineer. This financial obligation – which is estimated at $32 to $37 million if merger takes place – is not included in the study.”

Snyder noted that the expansion of Social Row Road is estimated at $17 million and improvements to Clyo Road are estimated at $15 to $20 million. While townships have the same ability as cities to improve roads, townships are not required to assume the financial burden if they choose to rely on the county to make road improvements.

Study Does Not Fully Capture Police Costs
While the University of Toledo study indicated that it would cost more to provide police services if merger took place, the study did not capture the full cost, according to Tom Zobrist, Washington Township fiscal officer. In order to keep the city’s current 1.7 ratio of officers per 1,000 residents, the merged community would need more than twice as many new officers. If the city’s current cost per officer is $137,166, the estimated cost for a merged department would be more than $12 million, Zobrist said. Police services cost about $2.97 million for the township and $5.76 million for the city in 2006.

Merged Communities Have Raised Taxes
The University of Toledo study cites three cases in which Montgomery County townships and cities have merged. The study points out that in two of those three mergers, communities underestimated the cost of merger or overestimated revenue, or both. The study suggests that a similar miscalculation occurred in the third merger because an income tax was required and the effective property tax rate declined by only one mill.

“The township followed up on the Toledo case studies and learned that the three merged communities – which included six cities and townships – have on average raised their income tax and property tax,” said Trustee President Joyce Young. For instance, with the Clayton-Randolph Township merger, residents of Randolph Township now pay a 1.5% income tax where previously they had none and their property tax has gone up a little more than 2 mills. Residents of Clayton have saved .5 mills in property tax, but now pay a 1.5% income tax when previously they had none, she said.

“The study did not conclusively prove that going down this merger path might make sense. The cities and townships that have merged have not succeeded the way they thought they would. That’s why we are saying let’s look at other options,” Young said. “We want to coordinate and cooperate. I don’t think we want to consolidate at this time.”

Current Services Are Efficient
“One of the pleasant things about the township and the city is that they don’t have to do anything … and both appear to be well managed,” Hinton said. “There may be some advantages (to merger), but there are some disadvantages and the township and city do not need to make a decision immediately.”

Young noted that the two governments operate efficiently and effectively and cooperate with one another. “I do hope in the future we can work with Centerville in many ways,” she added.

Citizen satisfaction with Washington Township services is at 95 percent and the perception of efficiency is 90 percent, up three percent from five years ago. Both statistics are exceptionally high, according to Opinion Research Associates which conducted the survey last year of 475 residents. The Centerville-Washington Park District received similarly positive results last year when it conducted a joint citizen survey with the school district and library. The city has not conducted a survey.

Centerville ’s Merger Policy
The City of Centerville has announced a formal policy to support merger and Centerville Mayor Mark Kingseed made merger the central highlight of his 2007 State of the City address.

A merger process, which can only be initiated by residents, begins with a petition for a merger study committee. The petition includes possible names of study committee members. If a petition is signed by 10 percent of city and 10 percent of township residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election, then the issue of a merger study committee is placed on the ballot. To make the fall ballot, a total of about 1,100 validated signatures from the city and about 1,400 from the township would be required by August 15.

If the ballot issue passes in both political subdivisions, the merger study committee would have two years to study merger and make its recommendations in the form of a merger report. Its recommendations would then be placed on the ballot for voter consideration. Merger would need to pass in both political subdivisions.

Other Sources of Information
The University of Toledo study is one way in which the city and township have looked at the consequences of merging functions. The township also commissioned a financial study by Steen & Company which looked at city and township assets and liabilities and compared the per capita costs of the city and township to similar communities . Washington Township’s per capita spending was the lowest of the peer communities surveyed and the city’s spending was the second lowest, according to the Steen study.