Village to Detach from Township, Create New Entity
“We’re still in Claridon Township. We didn’t move the village. We are still Aquilla Village. That has not changed. But now we are separate from Claridon.” – Richard Wolfe
Aquilla Village Council and Claridon Township Trustees have agreed to a mutual divorce.
Council recently voted to separate from Claridon and create its own township, and Geauga County Commissioners granted the request at their March 30 meeting, said Aquilla Village Mayor Richard Wolfe.
Exactly what effects this will have on the village is still uncertain, but he said Aquilla Township will have the same footprint as Aquilla Village.
“We’re still in Claridon Township. We didn’t move the village,” Wolfe said in a phone interview April 2. “We are still Aquilla Village. That has not changed. But now we are separate from Claridon.”
When Aquilla Village solicitor Jim Gillette presented the request to commissioners, he said council decided to petition the county to detach from Claridon and form a “paper township” in order to receive additional tax revenue from 10 mills of inside millage — which equates to more than $10,000 a year.
Gillette said there will not be an Aquilla Township board of trustees and the village will still be governed by its council, which will be elected by those residents who are registered to vote. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are 340 people living in the village, making up 128 households.
The decision for Aquilla to secede from Claridon has been in the works for a couple of years and is ultimately a win-win for both entities. In 2019, Claridon Township Trustees asked the Geauga County Auditor’s Office to shift its inside roads and bridges millage to its general fund in an effort to be more fiscally flexible, said Claridon Township Trustee Jonathan Tiber.
Inside millage consists of property tax dollars the county collects and divvies out every year.
Currently, the aforementioned 10 mills is divided among Chardon Schools, which receives 4.5 mills; the county, which receives 2.5 mills; and Claridon Township, which receives 3 mills and shares half a mill with Aquilla Village, according to the auditor’s office.
Tiber said trustees made the request so the township would have more leeway with its inside millage, which may now be used for roads or for cemeteries, fire protection, administration, zoning or other township needs.
“This will be less of a burden on (Claridon) taxpayers,” he had said.
However, that decision further tightened the purse strings of an already pinched budget in Aquilla.
“(Claridon trustees) sorta refused to share that inside millage with our village,” Wolfe said. “Basically, we are separating so we do not have to share those inside millage tax dollars.”
Aquilla Village was originally a summer resort built around Aquilla Lake. It became a popular vacation site when Cleveland residents could take the Interurban Railroad to the lake, according to the Geauga County Archives and Research website. Eventually, property owners started living in the cottages year around and in 1946, the 0.15-square-mile community incorporated, becoming Aquilla Village, inside Claridon Township.
Because they have been part of Claridon, Aquilla residents vote for township trustees and levies, and share with the township the cost of fire protection through a contract with the Chardon Fire Department, Tiber said.
Generally, the two communities have been separate in most other matters.
“They have been acting independently for decades. I’m very impressed they took ownership. The village will have its own inside millage,” Tiber said, adding the trustees have no quarrel with Aquilla for its decision.
“I’m fine with it, the other trustees are fine with it,” he said. “(Aquilla Village Council members) feel they need to be in full control of 100% of their revenue.”
The separation process, which must go through the state, will increase Claridon’s revenue from $11,781 to $14,137, said a representative of the auditor’s office, adding the process could take until 2022, so Aquilla will have to make arrangements for services, in particular fire protection.
Gillette said Aquilla will see its revenue go up from about $2,000 to more than $13,000.
The village budget is about $30,000, so the decision will increase the village coffers by almost 40%, according to the auditor’s office.
In addition, Claridon’s property assessment will be lowered because Aquilla is no longer part of the township, Gillette said.
Claridon trustees will be placing a 1.76-mill road and bridge levy on the November 2021 ballot to help Claridon Township with its road maintenance program, but having that extra inside millage available for other purposes is important, Tiber said.
Now the die is cast, any other problems will have to be worked out as they are encountered.
“There’s a lot of questions right now,” Tiber said.
