Village would benefit from payroll taxes from college, jail
The Village of Batavia has begun preliminary discussions with local property owners that could result in the annexation of UC Clermont and the Clermont County Jail, an action Batavia Township Trustee Lee Cornett says he would support.
Batavia Mayor John Thebout said the village has spoken with U.C. Clermont Dean Gregory Sojka and has had conversations with both county and township leadership about the possibility, but no plans have been made.
“I have no information positive or negative I can give at this time,” Thebout said. “It’s in discussion and that’s it.”
The topic was raised at the Jan. 4 Township Trustees meeting, at which Cornett was named the 2011 president of the board. Batavia Township Administrator Rex Parsons said he wanted to make the trustees aware that the village has approached several property owners in the township about annexation.
Parsons said that there are several ways a piece of property could be annexed by the village depending on whether the village or the property owners initiate the process. He said if the property owner initiates an expedited annexation the township would still receive the property taxes for that parcel, however if the village initiates the process they would receive the property taxes. The property taxes paid by the college campus are not a significant amount, according to Parsons.
Batavia village has a 1 percent income tax which would be applied to employees at Clermont College and any government buildings included in annexation.
“I don’t think it’s going to hurt us that much really,” Cornett said. “It would benefit them in ways that it’s not benefitting us.”
There are several opportunities for public input during an annexation process.
Mayor Thebout said he and the village council have been working hard on economic development in the village and annexation is one possibility they are considering.
“We’ve got to expand and grow as a village in order to get economic development,” Thebout said.
Parsons said another possibility is the formation of a Joint Economic Development District which would benefit both the village and the township. A JEDD would allow the village to annex the property in exchange for a service to the township such as the resurfacing of a road, or other benefits.
He said the property owners could benefit by the annexation if the village offered to zone the property in a way that the township has not. He said the property owners would then receive police protection from the village instead of the Clermont County Sheriff’s Deputies which are contracted by the township.