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Free money has color of green
(by Dave Lange - October 15, 2008)
COUNTY LINE, BY DAVE LANGE
Free money has color of green
Bainbridge Township Trustee Matthew J.D. Lynch wants to give me money. I like Matt Lynch.
Bainbridge Trustees have been debating what to do with the approximately $6 million that remains of the $15 million Paul Frohring estate-tax windfall that was bestowed upon the township in 1998. The Geauga County auditor's and treasurer's offices have told the trustees that they must spend the money or at least have a plan to do something with it -- instead of collecting dust and interest.
Mr. Lynch has a plan. He would give the money to the citizens of Bainbridge, including yours truly, and let us spend it. That is if such a plan is even legal, which wasn't quite clear as of this writing.
I'm not sure how it would work, although I imagine Mr. Lynch has thought this matter through quite thoroughly.
He could just divvy it up equally among the township's 12,000 or so residents, which may be the easiest solution. That's $500 for me, $500 for my wife, $500 for our one son living at home and maybe another $500 for our other son, if he happens to move back anytime soon.
I'm not sure if that's quite fair, though, being that this would be some sort of a tax rebate. Our sons haven't chipped in for the property taxes that the township uses to turn country roads into high-speed thoroughfares, plow snow into our driveway in the winter and send the police over to Wal-Mart to pick up shoplifters.
My wife and I have been paying taxes to Bainbridge for 25 years now, including every year since Mr. Frohring's $15 million windfall blew our way. We ought to get a bigger cut from Mr. Lynch's plan than the newcomers who haven't been paying taxes here for nearly so long.
And the fact is that people living in huge, expensive houses pay a lot more in property taxes than those residing in more modest digs, so wealthier folks might be entitled to more substantial rebates. Kind of like the tax cuts the federal government likes to throw around, except that Bainbridge actually has the money.
I hope they get this tax giveaway rolling quickly, though, because that fancy retirement community on South Franklin Street is going to be open for business next year, and hundreds of senior citizens with deep pockets will be moving into Bainbridge. I don't think they'll be needing any of Mr. Frohring's money, although I bet the township will be happy to take a share of their estates when they get around to it.
Anyway, fellow Bainbridge Trustee Jeffrey Markley doesn't much like Mr. Lynch's idea. He'd rather put the $6 million into township operations and maybe reduce taxes in the future. He also seems to like the idea that previous trustees spent $7 million of Mr. Frohring's money to buy 350 acres around the township, including the 160-acre Centerville Mills Park and 61 acres where the new Kenston High School was built. Some people call it green space.
If they would have given us citizens that $15 million in the first place, each of us would have gotten a bigger portion -- maybe $5,000 for my family -- plus we wouldn't have to split it with the newcomers.
I think Mr. Frohring liked green space, though, because he donated more than 300 acres to the Geauga Park District when he was still alive, but he never gave me a dime.
The trustees could use that $6 million to buy another 300 acres of green space and divide it up among the 12,000 citizens. If there are any trees on my family's 4,356 square feet, we could chop them down and build a fence.
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