Courtesy of Robert Santos and Bruce Shepas
Austintown Trustee Robert Santos testifies before the Ohio House of Representatives Finance Committee on Wednesday before Gov. Mike DeWine’s State of the State speech. Santos and fellow Trustee Bruce Shepas (seated behind Santos to the left) lobbied state representatives and senators to ensure that the local community share of 10% excise tax on marijuana sales remains with the host communities, and is not revoked as outlined in DeWine’s proposed biennial budget.

AUSTINTOWN — Trustees received an invite to Columbus and made the most of the opportunity, advocating for the township’s financial well being.

Trustee Bruce Shepas said State Rep. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) extended an invitation to join her for Gov. Mike DeWine’s State of the State speech. Shepas and Trustee Robert Santos accepted the invitation and were joined by Township Administrator Mark D’Apolito. Trustee Monica Deavers was unable to attend.

“Obviously, we were very honored and excited to go,” Shepas said, “but even though we were invited, we were already scheduled to defend the [marijuana] dispensary monies, so Robert and I also went down there to testify.”

Shepas said Santos testified before the Ohio House of Representatives Finance Committee, in opposition to part of House Bill 96 — DeWne’s biennial budget proposal — that would alter the state’s recreational marijuana law to eliminate the 36 percent local community share of the 10 percent excise tax levied against marijuana sales.

The law that allows recreational marijuana use and sales in the state was originally passed as Issue 2 in November 2023. The state’s website says that money will pay for “a social equity and jobs program, mental health and addiction services, local governments, and the administrative costs of the Ohio Department of Taxation and the Division of Cannabis Control.”

Trustees, who initially opposed the opening of a dispensary, said they only changed their minds and approved zoning for a single store because of the expected financial benefits to Austintown.

Trustees hope Austintown might see at least $200,000 per year should a dispensary open, and in June approved a zoning ordinance to allow for a marijuana dispensary within the commercial district along state Route 46 near Interstate 80. In July, Terrell Washington, owner of Leaf Relief dispensary on Market Street in Youngstown, obtained a permit to open in Austintown. That store’s location is still under discussion.

“Even though the people didn’t make their decision based on that money, that’s what made us as the board approve that dispensary, and to have those funds ripped out from under us feels like a betrayal,” Shepas said.

He said he perceived “a lot of pushback” from the majority of (the committee) watching Santos and other township representatives testify on the subject.

But Shepas said he and Santos are still optimistic after speaking to local state representatives and senators, including McNally, Sen. Al Cutrona (R-Canfield), Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel (R-Columbiana), Rep. Nick Santucci (R-Niles), and State Rep. Tex Fischer (R-Boardman).

“The important thing is our local legislators support us and amendments will be submitted,” Shepas said. “It was so worth going down there yesterday and spending the day to speak with them.I feel very optimistic knowing our legislators are supporting us.”

Santos said Blasdel is submitting an amendment to ensure that all of the local share of marijuana tax revenue stays in local communities.

Santos, who is president of the Mahoning County Townships Association, said that during his testimony he pointed out that this is not the first time the state has reached into townships’ pockets to their detriment.

For example, in 2011, the state cut the local government fund share from 3.68 percent of the state budget to 1.66,

“That cost townships millions of dollars,” he said. Santos said members of the Ohio Township Association and county township associations are lobbying to raise that amount back up to 2.5 or 2.75 percent.

The Hollywood racino in Austintown also was supposed to provide $500,000 per year for Austintown, but after the initial payment of $1 million in 2013, the money stopped flowing.

“It’s really hard to get an answer on why it happened, because anybody that had anything to do with it is no longer in office,” Santos said. “Our understanding is that [former Gov. Jon]

Kasich line item vetoed the funding and everything is now being kept by the state. For us, though, it doesn’t matter what happened or why it happened, it’s only about what we can do to fix it. It’s our duty to fight to get it back.”

Santos said DeWine’s budget also calls for an increase on the excise tax on sports betting, from 20 percent to 40 percent. He and Shepas said that if that is the case, they think some of that money should come back to Austintown.

The governor’s budget calls for at least a portion of that money to partially fund Ohio’s major and minor league sports facilities and youth sports programs.

Santos added that in 2024, the racino generated roughly $166 million from slot machines alone, and that revenue is taxed at about 33.5 percent, which produced $55.6 million in tax revenue for Ohio. Santos said none of it comes back to Austintown.

“All the representatives I spoke to, they understand the difficult situation townships are in,” he said. “We are primarily funded by property tax, about 88.5 percent. When we see a source of revenue that does not ask us to go to our residents, honestly, when you take that away from us, it pisses us off. Don’t wave a carrot in front of us, don’t wait for us to welcome it in and then take it away from us.”

Santos said he wants DeWine and legislators to understand how economic development actually works at the local level. Every new business and housing development, he said, means more responsibility for police, fire, roads, and zoning to oversee, while generating little in tax revenue for the local community.

“You’d think the state would invest in the community that the businesses invested in, if they want economic development,” he said.