AUSTINTOWN — Trustees will not pass a proclamation, but they say they fully support Issue 2 on the May 6 ballot, while the newest member of the Board of Mahoning County Commissioners said he will suggest a resolution.

Boardman Township Trustees last week made a point of formally supporting the Ohio Public Works Commission’s State Capital Improvement Program that provides millions for local paving and infrastructure programs. It is due to expire July 1.

The OPWC website states that over the past nine years, the program has provided $2.3 billion in infrastructure funding for 4,490 projects in 1,084 local governments in all 88 counties. The website states that in most years, every $1 in OPWC funds has been matched with double to nearly triple the funding from other sources.

The project was originally approved by voters in 1987 and has been renewed about every 10 years since, most recently in 2014.

Trustee Robert Santos said the board will not pass a resolution before its next regular meeting on May 5, the day before the primary election.

“But we definitely support it because we receive funds to offset a lot of road paving,” Santos said.

Austintown has been vocal about its support for the program at least since March, when the township announced a roughly $1.27 million project to pave three dozen roads this summer in the Wickliffe, Nottingham and Woodhurst neighborhoods. The SCIP funding will save the township roughly a quarter of a million dollars on that bill.

Township Administrator Mark D’Apolito said that is what Austintown typically receives from the program.

“At this year’s paving prices (approximately $192,716.08 per mile), the $224,000 that Austintown has traditionally received from this program amounts to 1.16 miles of paving annually,” he said.

Boardman Fiscal Officer Brad Calhoun last week said his township will receive $225,000 this year, while Mahoning County Engineer and Sanitary Engineer Patrick Ginnetti’s office received more than $2 million in grants and loans in the last funding cycle. Springfield, Beaver and Poland townships each received $75,000, Youngstown received $500,000, Campbell received $150,000 and Canfield city received $127,000.

Austintown and other townships also receive financial support for paving through the county’s 0.25% sales tax. D’Apolito noted that 2026 is the final year for full collection of that tax and townships will receive a half-year’s worth in 2027.

D’APolito said Austintown has received more than $3 million for road projects since 2022. In that first year of distribution, the township received $563,173 and in 2023, it received $625,066. Last year, the tax paid for $1,119,641 in road resurfacing in the township, and this year’s payment covered $1,126,716.

D’Apolito said if the sales tax revenue and the OPWC were to disappear, the consequences for township roads would be dire.

“Unless paving prices fall significantly, I would not anticipate being able to pave more than two miles of road per year if both funding sources are lost,” he said.

Austintown Township has about 119.5 miles of township roads.

“This means that if we can maintain funding to pave about 6.5 miles per year, each road mile will get paved approximately once every 18.4 years,” he said. “Expressed in another fashion, to pave every road in the township, at this year’s project costs, would cost approximately $20,000,000 to $23,000,000.”

SEEKING HELP FROM ABOVE

Santos said trustees have not spoken to commissioners directly about the sales tax, but about the financial plight Ohio townships face in general.

“We have spoken to them and have spoken to our state legislators about that unique position of townships, that roughly 90% of our funding comes from the residents,” he said. “And residents are overburdened, and with inflation the costs of services are going up, so we often have to choose between which services to provide.”

Santos said the township cannot afford some of the services residents would like to see, like leaf pickup in the fall.

“So it’s not just about Issue 2 or the sales tax, it’s more geared toward how are we going to attack inflation without cutting services?” he said. “And that requires a conversation with everyone, from our local governments all the way up to our federal legislators. They each can play an important part.”

Commissioner Geno DiFabio said he has heard from Austintown and other townships that the sales tax fund is valuable.

“I’ve heard from the townships that they would like it to continue but it would have to go back to the ballot,” he said. “It’s actually a tax that’s working. But we haven’t had any conversations yet about it.”

DiFabio said he will propose that the commissioners issue a proclamation supporting the SCIP program.

“I support it wholeheartedly, and I know people in my party support it,” he said.

DiFabio is a Republican.

He said that, like the sales tax, the SCIP is a program that works. The program largely generates funding from the sale of bonds, which DiFabio said does not reach into taxpayers’ pockets.

“It’s a hard time to pass anything because people are tired of taxes, but when you see what projects it supports, I know I support it. I’m not for taking that money away,” he said.