West Chester Township Issues

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

West Chester is on-track to spend LESS in 2021 than we did in 2020!

REDI Cincinnati’s (Regional Economic Development Initiative) named West Chester
One of the Top 3 Winningest Communities in the last three years (2018-2020)!

Since 2014 West Chester has
Created 7,405 NEW JOBS and RETAINED 14,149 EXISTING JOBS
with
$684,381,252.00 in Capital Investment!

West Chester Township has been named one of the “Best Places to Live in America” seven (7) times, most recently in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 when Money Magazine analyzed and reviewed townships, villages, towns and cities across America that had populations between 50,000 to 150,000. PLUS, a new honor, in January 2019, West Chester was named ‘The Best Community to Live in Ohio’ by Money Magazine in their new ‘Best Place to Live in Every State’ analysis!

“To create MONEY’s Best Places to Live ranking, we looked only at places with populations between 10,000 and 100,000. We eliminated any place that had more than double the national crime risk, less than 85 percent of its state’s median household income, or a lack of ethnic diversity. This gave us 2,400 places. We then collected about 170,000 different data points to narrow the list,” their website said.

• As of 1/1/2021, West Chester Township has over $2.4 billion assessed real estate value. This is great for both Lakota  Schools and West Chester because of the property taxes collected.
• West Chester Township has the SECOND highest Assessed Property Value in the Tri-State behind Cincinnati!
• West Chester Township is the SECOND highest Job Creator in the Tri-State behind Cincinnati!
• West Chester Township has been one of REDI Cincinnati’s Top 3 Winningest Communities in the last three years (2018-2020)!
• West Chester Township has the highest bond rating (Aaa+) of any community in Ohio.
• West Chester Township has more than 3600 businesses that call West Chester home!
• West Chester Township has an unemployment rate of just 1.3%! Butler County’s rate is 7.3% while the Ohio and National rate is around 7.7%.

TRANSPARENCY

After three years of research, investigation and analysis West Chester Township in March 2017 authorized $50,000 for an OpenGov Smart Government Platform, including OpenGov ‘Open Data’ with a portal that was launched in October 2017 on the West Chester Township website, www.westchesteroh.org.

West Chester is excited about the launch of this open data platform for financial and non- financial data. Through this analysis and evidence based data, West Chester can transform the delivery of services; engage residents and corporate citizens; endeavor to make government operations and services more efficient and effective; and most importantly can meaningfully contribute to the quality of people’s lives.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

West Chester Township received the Ohio Auditor of State Award with Distinction for a ninth consecutive year.

Ryan Holiday, southwest regional liaison for Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost, presented the award for the 2016 audit year at the Oct. 10 Board of Trustees meeting.
“It is important to note that this award puts West Chester Township in a very select group,” Mr. Holiday said. “Fewer than 5 percent of all entities that are audited annually earn and are eligible for this award.”

Under my leadership, the Board of Trustees has done a great job managing the Township’s money. So much so that we haven’t had a Fire Levy since 2006 and a Police Levy since 2010!
But we MUST remain focused on Core Competencies – Police, Fire, Roads, Parks, Cemeteries. Below you’ll find the Carryover for each of our departments. Carryover is the same as ‘Retained Earnings’ for businesses and ‘Net Worth’ for individuals. West Chester is in GREAT FINANCIAL SHAPE!

General Fund – $15.2 Million Carryover
Police – $11.3 Million Carryover (Almost $32M and 69% budget)
Fire – $15.2 Million Carryover
Roads – $7.5 Million Carryover

In 2021 West Chester’s proposed operational budget expenditures are $48.1M with nearly 70%, or $33M spent on Police and Fire (core competency) for the SAFETY of our residents, businesses and the thousands of people who work here everyday. 

In FY 2021 the township will spend $5.6M on Roads (core competency) which includes 5.5 miles of paving, 14,000 lineal feet of curb replacement and 70 sections of storm pipe replacement.

West Chester continues to have a great working relationship with the Butler County Engineers Office utilizes shared services which has saved West Chester nearly $4 million over the years!

LAKOTA SCHOOLS

The best thing a Trustee can do to support the schools is bring more business to West Chester to increase the tax base. Increasing the business tax basis will help keep our individual property taxes low and support the schools.

The West Chester Comprehensive Land Use Plan designates about 40% of West Chester land as Commercial/Industrial and about 60% Residential. This is a great balance because businesses don’t create the same burden on our schools and services that residents do.

In fact, for every dollar of property tax collected from businesses they only use about 40 cents in services, however; every dollar of property tax collected from residents incurs about $1.40 in services! This is why business development in our township is so important!

Lakota Schools are a cornerstone in West Chester and foundational to our community. My requirements of Lakota are simple: be good stewards of the money and give our kids the best education possible. Also, I want to see Lakota Schools adopt and invest is a financial transparency tool like Open Gov because people want to know where all the money goes. It’s not too much to ask. In 2017 West Chester Township launched our Open Gov portal, which I championed, that provides for total township spending transparency.

Regarding ‘Critical Race Theory’, I am firmly against it being taught in our schools – it is divisive, teaches children racist principles and inaccurate American History – It undermines the fabric of our community and our country. CRT is attempting to undo all the great progress our country has made since Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for equality and justice. As an elected official it is my responsibility to help create an environment where businesses and families can prosper, and sound schools are key to the success of the children and families in our community.