Ravenna considers income tax hike to keep up aging buildings

Ravenna’s aging public buildings are past the point of rescue, so the only real question is how to pay for new ones.

City council members Rob Kairis and Amy Michael told The Portager that increasing the city’s income tax by a quarter percent may be the way to go.

The city’s income tax rate is now 2.5%. Asking voters for a quarter-percent increase may be easier than asking them to approve a property tax increase, Kairis said, acknowledging that the recent round of revaluations has many property owners already struggling with higher property tax bills.

The current police/fire station complex, comprising much of the block bordered by West Maple Lane, South Meridian Street, West Spruce Avenue and Park Way, was built in 1901 and remodeled in 1979, according to the Portage County Auditor’s Office.

Ravenna Fire Department

“We have a lot of plumbing problems with sewage backup,” Ravenna Fire Chief Mark Chapple said. “We have to have the drains snaked or jetted every three months because the piping is deteriorating. We’ve had to have the roof repaired several times, we’ve had a lot of heating and cooling issues, and the HVAC system takes thousands of dollars a year to maintain and upkeep.”

The city’s fire station is already too small to house RFD’s utility vehicles, and will certainly not be able to house a new fire engine expected to arrive in the next few years, Chapple said.

RFD’s 21 firefighters work 24-hour shifts: three shifts, seven people per shift. Chapple’s private office sports a fold-out Murphy bed, and the administrative assistant and fire prevention officer work in a common hallway between his office and the dorm room.

“Right now my office doubles as a dorm room because we have seven people on shift and there’s only enough room in the common room for six beds,” the chief said.

The fire station also lacks separate locker rooms and dorm areas for female firefighters — a potential hardship because firefighters all but live on station during their shifts, he said. Although all RFD’s firefighters are currently male, the only facility for females is outfitted only with a commode and a sink.

One of RFD’s apparatus bays holds a treadmill, elliptical, nautilus equipment and free weights, all two decades old, originally acquired via a FEMA grant. The equipment must be kept on site because workout sessions can be interrupted by calls for help, he said.

Firefighters come in to use the equipment on their days off and steadily maintain it to keep it functional.

“Health and fitness in our profession is one of the most essential things. We have to be physically fit, and having the equipment is an essential means of helping us stay physically fit so we can do our jobs,” Chapple said.

Then there’s call volume, each call representing a potential crisis. In the last 30 years, RFD’s call volume has skyrocketed from about 1,300 to 3,600 a year, but the station, not to mention Ravenna’s wallet, can’t meet the need, he said.

Chapple said he tries to fully staff each shift so all three ambulances are ready to go, but it isn’t always possible. If a shift falls below six people, he knows one of the squad units will remain idle.

“We outgrew this more than 10 years ago,” Chapple said.

Ravenna Police Department

Including Chief Jake Smallfield, Ravenna’s full-time police roster includes two female and 21 male officers. Two more male officers serve part-time. Rounding out Ravenna’s finest are a civilian administrative assistant and 12 female dispatchers, only one of whom is part-time.

With limited on-site space to park personal vehicles or cruisers, officers begin and end their shifts at city-owned space on West Spruce Street, where the city’s marked cruisers are parked.

Also stored at Ravenna’s former street department building are vehicles that are connected with criminal investigations, those that are being held for forensic testing, and those that are subject to civil forfeiture, RPD Sgt. Dustin Svab said.

Training sessions are conducted inside, where two unisex restrooms provide space for changing clothes. One of the restrooms sports shower facilities.

Over at police HQ, the men’s locker room is too small to supply all officers with a private locker, but it does have a shower. Female officers who need locker or shower facilities there are out of luck.

Svab said city police can and will conduct business as usual despite their building’s challenges, one of which is insufficient storage space for evidence.

“Our building is nearly 125 years old,” he said. “As such, due to age alone there are continuous problems that develop. We address those problems as they arise, and we get back to business. When the time is right, we could benefit from a new structure which would contribute positively to the overall functions of the police department.”

City hall

Council members and other city leaders had discussed attaching a new city hall building to the proposed safety building, or at least including it on the same lot, but Ravenna Mayor Frank Seman said that plan is a nonstarter.

“My feeling is we’re not going to have the funds for that. The way things are going in Washington, if we hit a recession, it’s going to be very difficult for us to move forward,” he said.

The current city hall, located at 210 South Park Way, was built in 1960. In the 1950s it was an A&P grocery store, Seman said.

“It’s going to take a while, many years before a building gets built. We’re trying to do a more defined plan. Safety buildings come at the top, but these other things aren’t far behind,” he said, alluding to millions of dollars in needed upgrades for the city’s wastewater plant.

The added infrastructure will address stormwater runoff, which became an issue in last year’s massive storms.

The bottom line

Council members and other city leaders plan to meet later this month to discuss what to do and when to do it. City voters should not expect to see any measure on the ballot this year, Kairis said.

An architect council hired to estimate the cost of building a new combination fire/police station at Clinton and East Main streets (former site of Ravenna’s high school) came up with an estimated $20 million price tag, Kairis said. But he and Michael say they’d like to hear from an expert who specializes in safety buildings as such structures have unique needs.

Council members had discussed funding the new safety building with a property tax increase, but the recent round of revaluations — and the higher property tax bills that went with them — squashed that idea, Kairis said, also acknowledging city voters’ recent approval of a 5.47-mill school levy.

“We need a better plan before we make any harsh decisions,” Michael said. “We need to keep having conversations before any decisions are made.”

Should council land on an income tax hike, it won’t be the first time.

Voters approved increasing their income tax contribution from 2% to 2.25% in 2015; and from 2.25% to 2.5% in 2016. The first was to finance road and sidewalk improvements, and the second was earmarked for the fire department’s operating expenses.

Retired senior citizens whose only source of income is their pension or social security do not pay such city taxes, city finance director Tami Lorence said.