Kent Council Supports Ohio City's Annexation Lawsuit

Members of Kent City Council want their counterparts in Centerville, OH, to know they support that city's lawsuit over annexation and tax payments.

Kent City Council voted following an executive session late Wednesday night to send a letter of support to the Ohio Municipal League, which is asking other Ohio communities to support a lawsuit filed by Centerville officials.

The Centerville lawsuit involves Sugarcreek, OH, and a 268-acre piece of land that straddles both communities.

Kent Law Director Jim Silver said the case revolves around a new, type 2 annexation now permissible in Ohio, in which property owners who want to be annexed into a city or village can do so if they all agree.

"And, up until this court case, if the property gets annexed, the property rates change to that of the village or city that annexes the property," Silver said. "This court case says, ‘No, we’re not going to do that anymore.'"

Under this court case, the tax rates for the property would stay the same as the township it was annexed from instead of converting to the city or village rates.

"What that does is effectively cut off cities from using any tax enterprise zones, tax incremental financing, things of that nature to attract development to the area," Silver said. "And I don’t really think that’s what the statute says should be done. So we are joining as a friend of the court to lend our name to a brief being filed supporting Centerville’s position."

Kent used its own TIF recently to finance about $8 million in improvements to the downtown redevelopment area.

Dave Ruller said it makes sense for Kent to support Centerville's position even though there is no direct effect on Kent.

"All we’re doing is adding the city of Kent’s name to other cities in Ohio that are supporting the city of Centerville," Ruller said. "We have no annexation plans, nothing on the radar. We have no dog in this fight. Other than in principle … we would support the side the city of Centerville is taking."