Chardon Officials Express Concerns Over Proposed License Fees
A second hearing was held at the Sept. 26 Geauga County Commissioners meeting regarding their decision to move forward with approval of three $5 license fee increases, which would bring the average license renewal for a standard car in the county from $39.50 to $54.50 beginning in 2019.
A second hearing was held at the Sept. 26 Geauga County Commissioners meeting regarding their decision to move forward with approval of three $5 license fee increases, which would bring the average license renewal for a standard car in the county from $39.50 to $54.50 beginning in 2019.
Geauga County Engineer Joe Cattell brought the measure to commissioners last week, when he asked them to bring the fees up to match surrounding counties in an effort to bring in needed road funding to counties and municipalities as gas tax dollars have steadily dropped.
Chardon Mayor Nancy McArthur was joined by several members of the Chardon city administration at the meeting to voice opposition to the measure in fear it may push out a steady income source for the city.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car on Water Street registered between 14 and 15 thousand cars in the city of Chardon last year, and the city is concerned a higher registration fee would cause the business to move.
Finance Director Mate Rogonjic told commissioners revenues from vehicle registrations in the city have grown from around $275,000 in 2009 to $965,000 in 2016.
“Three quarters of that impact is due to Enterprise coming into the city and registering vehicles out of the city of Chardon,” Rogonjic said. “The reason why they set up shop here to register is there is only one $5 permissive tax fee in the county right now and if that goes up to $20, there’s a potential that they may choose to register their vehicles elsewhere.”
Cattell countered by asking where else the business could move that would still be cheaper than Geauga County.
“We’re still one of the lowest tax rates,” Cattell said. “So when they buy these cars here, let’s say they average $30,000, they’re still saving $400 over registering in Cuyahoga County.”
Cattell also told the city’s representatives all counties in the area except Trumbull have the three permissive licensing taxes, and that Trumbull will likely pass them as well.
“Us being less expensive probably encouraged them (to move) here, but they’re here now,” Cattell said. “So, if there’s a better place to go to than Chardon, I’m not sure where that would be.”
Rogonjic said the city’s projections show that, with their state allocation of gas tax dollars factored in, Enterprise moving out of the city could impact the budget with a loss of as much as $700,000-$800,000 a year.
“We use that money to support our street maintenance program throughout the city, street improvement projects, crack sealing program, salt that we purchase, to plow the streets,” Rogonjic said. “So it would be a major impact on the city if they were to leave and not register in the city.”
An employee reached at Enterprise Rent-A-Car declined to comment on the licensing fees.
County Engineering Administrator Frank Antenucci told commissioners the proposed fees have been met with “overwhelming support from the township trustees association,” and Commissioner Tim Lennon, reminding his colleagues the move is meant to address shortfalls caused by decades of increased costs.
Last week, Commissioner Walter “Skip” Claypool blamed the loss in road funding dollars in part on choices made by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency to redirect regional tax dollars into projects like Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative grants, which the city of Chardon has taken advantage of in the past for the Chardon bikeway and pedestrian trail plan.
While he said he didn’t hold it against the city for taking advantage of available funding, he called NOACA’s appropriations “goofy thinking.”
This week, Claypool pointed out a decision to increase registration fees cannot be Chardon-focused, as choosing not to increase the fees would “potentially disadvantage the 95,000 people in Geauga County versus the 5,000 (in Chardon).”
Lennon said the county keeping registration fees low for decades was “probably not best practice,” but other factors that keep businesses in the county besides licensing fees and the costs for Cattell and his department have risen up to 200 percent in that time.
He added this decision will not just affect one business in Chardon, it will also affect trucking companies and other companies based in Geauga County.
He said the fees should have been moved up slowly instead of the county being forced to make an abrupt change.
Commissioners will approve a resolution at next week’s meeting, and they have until July 1, 2018, to submit the language to the state of Ohio. Collection of new fees would begin Jan. 1, 2019.
