The following testimony was offered by RPI co-chair Mayor William A. Currin on December 4, 2009 at the Cleveland Public Library.

Good morning, my name is William A. Currin, Bill Currin, the mayor of the City of Hudson, Ohio. I am here with my colleagues Mayor Mike Lyons, City of Richfield, and Kerry Smith, RPI steering committee. I also serve as the Chairman of the Northeast Ohio Mayors & City Managers Association, an organization of municipal leaders from across the 16 county Northeast Ohio region. It is my role as Chairman of the Mayors’ Association that I speak to you today.

It is a privilege to provide this testimony today, and I am confident the members of the Ohio Commission on Local Government Collaboration and Reform will find the following information both very informative and directly in line with the stated directed of your Commission.

My comments today are based on the work of a major initiative underway under the direction of the NEO Mayor’s Association, called the Regional Prosperity Initiative, also known as RPI. The RPI is a comprehensive, collaborative, sustainable, non-partisan initiative to incent, and benefit from, collaboration for economic development across the 16 county region. The two specific areas to be accomplished through RPI are the establishment of a region-wide, comprehensive land use and infrastructure planning process, combined with a new growth tax base sharing system. I stress the term “new growth” tax base sharing, and will refer to this as I continue as this an important item to remember.

Let me provide a very brief background on the RPI, and then address issues which we believe will be of interest to this Commission as you move forward on your recommendations to the Ohio Legislature. As a result of a regionalism educational forum in late Fall of 2006, the members of the Association determined to study the concept of regionalism as is relates to local government issues. In the Spring of 2007, as Chairman I established a steering committee with the direction and concurrence of the membership, to undertake a regionalism study, called the Regional Economic Revenue Study, or RERS. The RERS provided extensive research on regionalism models from across the nation, the impact those initiatives have produced, and the probability of developing a regional model here in Northeast Ohio.

Funding for the RERS was provided more than 40 municipalities in the region and a grant from the Fund for Our Economic Future. The results of the RERS were both very encouraging and motivating for the research team, and in May 2008, the members of the NEO Mayors Association voted virtually unanimously to move forward in the development of a proposed regional, collaborative, land use and infrastructure planning system, coupled with a new growth tax base sharing system, for Northeast Ohio.

The RPI is in no way seeking to usurp the authority of any government entity or its jurisdictions, but to provide incentives for communities across the region to willingly collaborate with a foundation of shared benefits from enhanced, smart economic growth.

Over the past 10 months, RPI hosted more than 25 convening sessions (Convening of Leaders) across the Northeast Ohio region with nearly all sectors, including government, schools, public agencies, and, most importantly, the business community. Additionally, we held focus groups of city council members, county commissioners, school superintendents and finance directors, and township trustees. In total, more than 6,600 stakeholders from across the 16 county region were engaged to participate in the RPI development input meetings, of which 35% were business leaders.

On a personal note, I have met and spoken with many key business leaders who understand and support the goals of the RPI as they, too, see the potential to make this a more viable region, not only for their business, but for their employees and their families.

While we want to provide the Commission with what the RPI is about, it is important we address what the RPI is NOT about, and never has been about:

First and foremost, the RPI is not, and never has been, about usurping local authority of any political jurisdiction, and/or promoting mergers or consolidation of and local jurisdiction. Any future consideration of mergers or consolidation is strictly up those jurisdictions considering such changes.

Secondly, any form of new growth tax base sharing is not, and never was, retroactive and/or a “take-away” from any community. As such, only a slice of new growth tax base sharing would be considered for sharing, and, therefore, with additional projected growth across the region, all districts gain more that what can be accomplished today without such a collaborative system and gain more than anything that would be shared.

Thirdly, implementation is yet to be determined, but will be based on willing participants.

Over the past 19 months, an enormous amount of research, deliberation, debate and refinement has taken place by leading officials from across the region. The development teams and the RPI Steering Committee have labored much to produce well-researched and refined programs for regional land use and infrastructure planning, combined with a new-growth tax base sharing system. The RPI work continues as I present today, and the work of this Commission could be the key catalysts for us to bring the RPI to fruition for Northeast Ohio. More than that, we are confident the RPI will provide guidance for other areas of Ohio to pursue and achieve more effective and efficient economic development.

Part of the work on the RPI development has been the research and identification of the potential need for state enabling legislation for Northeast Ohio to implement this initiative. Initial research indicates that statutory authority may already exist for collaborative land use planning and new growth tax base sharing. However, as the specifics regarding the tax base sharing proposal continue to be refined, there appears to be some challenges to this level of collaboration, specifically between cities, villages, townships and counties across a range of 16 counties. RPI leaders continue to research and identify any “potential” legal impediments, if they exist at all. Ultimately, the goal of the RPI and leaders in our region is to establish a system we support for
ourselves and implement without the need for state-enabling legislation.

While we generally see the land use and infrastructure planning as doable under current law, the new growth tax base sharing proposal may face impediments.

Two key elements that we have identified are the encumbrances of H.B. 920, and the potential inability for tax base sharing under the Ohio Constitution, Article 12, Section 5.

H.B.920 places strict limits on revenues received in relation to millage levied, and the millage as a community’s tax base expands or contracts. With a proposed new growth tax base sharing system, the impact from the restrictions of H.B. 920 must be factored in our efforts. Having the general assembly aware of the encumbrances H.B. 920 as they deliberate potential changes in funding will be a priority for RPI leaders.

With regard to the Ohio Constitution, recent conversations with the Attorney General’s office, as well as the State Department of Taxation, references were made to specific language in Article 12, Section 5 which addresses the “revenues” generated from taxes levied. However, they do not address the sharing of tax base, so we are in need of clarification on this important point.

An additional item we are aware of, and very interested in, is the local government funding provisions vetoed by the Governor in the budget bill. We are speaking with leaders from Greater Ohio and others who are working with the administration on this issue. The discussion and debate on the CAT tax and local government funds will be an issue RPI continues to engage, particularly with the potential benefits to regional coordination.

While these are the specific areas identified today, I would ask the Commission to remain open to additional input as we continue our work on the development of the proposed specifics of the RPI.

It is our firm hope the Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration will support us in achieving the goals of the Regional Prosperity Initiative. I appreciate the opportunity to testify to the Commission this morning, and would be glad to take any questions from members at this time.

Thank You.