Medina dissolution plan goes to Village Board

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 June 2014 at 12:00 am

MEDINA – A committee studying the dissolution of the village of Medina is handing off its plan to the Village Board.

The Medina Dissolution Committee approved a plan last week that would cut taxes for village residents. Property owners outside the village in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway would see an increase in their town taxes as the two towns pick up some of the services currently provided in the village, according to the plan.

The Village Board will discuss the plan during its 7 p.m. meeting on Monday at the Shelby Town Hall on Salt Works Road.

Village residents would see a drop in taxes ranging from 27 percent in Ridgeway to 34 percent in Shelby. The rate in Ridgeway would drop from $19.49 per $1,000 of assessed property to a projected $14.30, according to the plan. That $5.20 reduction would save a homeowner with a $70,000 house $363 a year in taxes.

Village residents in Shelby currently pay a combined $19.80 rate ($16.45 to the village and $3.35 to the town). That would drop 34 percent to $13.10 and would cut the tax bills from $1,386 for a $70,000 house to $917.

Dissolution Committee members say the ultimate goal is to dissolve the village and then merge the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway. That would bring additional state incentives and provide more efficiencies, committee members said.

If the two towns don’t merge, their residents outside the village would see their taxes go up if the dissolution plan is followed by the towns. Town officials from both Shelby and Ridgeway have said the towns don’t have to follow the plan. The two towns haven’t said how the towns would handle services if the village dissolves.

Ridgeway residents outside the village currently pay a $6.71 rate for town, lighting and fire protection. That would rise 46 percent to $9.83 if the village dissolves and services are picked up according to the plan.

Shelby residents would see a 10 percent increase with dissolution with the current rate for outside-village residents going from $8.36 per $1,000 of assessed property to $9.17. That would raise taxes for a $70,000 home from $585 to $642.

The plan sees $277,000 in cost savings and $541,000 in additional state aid for $818,000 in overall benefit.

Village residents will have the final say in dissolution in a public referendum if the Village Board decides to put it on the ballot or if residents force a public vote through a petition.