For decades, Canton’s water department has served customers beyond its borders. Now, the city is changing the rules when one of those properties gets sold.
Canton City Council passed an ordinance earlier this year requiring buyers of properties that border the city to agree to be annexed to get water and sewer service.
The water department serves thousands of customers in bordering Stark County townships, including Perry, Plain and Canton Townships. Of the city’s 41,000 accounts, more than 15,000 are outside city limits, according to city service director John Highman.
The ordinance concerns water customers like Eric and Penny Vick, who live in Perry’s West Manor neighborhood less than a mile from the Canton border.
Sitting in their living room on a recent afternoon, the retired couple detailed why they decided to live in Perry Township.
“We grew up here. We went to school here,” Penny Vick said. “We knew it would be a great place to raise our kids.”
They like the school district and community – and not having to pay city taxes, she said. Plus, they have concerns about Canton’s crime rate and economic decline.
“Not to mention that we just plain don't want to be part of the city of Canton,” she said.
“No, we would have lived in the city if we wanted to be in a city,” her husband, Eric, echoed.
Although the new rules do not immediately affect them because they do not live on the border, the ordinance states once one parcel becomes part of the city, buyers of properties bordering it would now also have to agree to be annexed.
That domino effect concerns residents who live close to the Canton border, like the Vicks.
“Now, whoever's touching that property is part of the city, and then [they] will be part of this city, and pretty soon, you know, it just, like I say, it spiderwebs in,” Eric Vick said.
He worries that in a few decades, Perry and other townships will be gradually absorbed into Canton.
Canton council member responds to concerns
The goal of the ordinance is to clean up borders and make services more efficient, said City Council Majority Leader John Mariol.
The city’s expansion of water service over the years resulted in odd borders, like pockets of Plain and Canton Townships within city limits, Mariol said.
“Annexation will clean up those little islands,” Mariol said. “It's going to make government service to residents much more efficient, much more effective, much more responsive.”
Mariol points to a four-mile stretch along the Canton and Plain border that contains three different fire stations serving three different jurisdictions: the city of Canton, Plain Township and Canton Township.
The ordinance is also needed to ensure township residents equitably contribute to city services they may receive, he added.
“Many times, on a road that the city of Canton is paving, is plowing, is maintaining, and in multiple instances have invested millions of dollars in,” Mariol said, “only a portion of the residents have actually contributed to those improvements because half live in the city, half live in the township.”
Annexation would not affect school district jurisdictions, but residents who agree to annex would now pay city income tax, Mariol added.
Mariol, who grew up in Canton Township, added that the intent is not to eliminate townships. The law gives the city’s service director authority to determine when annexation is no longer necessary.
“When these boundaries and these borders are kind of, when they're rounded out and there's a logical way that these borders have aligned, for [the service director] to say, “Okay, this doesn't make any sense anymore, this stretches services too thin,” Mariol said.
Township leaders and organizations fight back
While the law is supported by council members and other Canton leaders, it’s also drawn widespread criticism.
A local realtor’s association, Stark Trumbull Area Realtors, is circulating a petition asking council to rescind the ordinance. They argue that people have the right to want to live in a township – and tying annexation to water access is unfair.
Township trustees are also fighting against it.
“The city was essentially willing to blow up years of amicable working relationships,” said Plain Township Trustee Scott Haws.
Haws disagrees that township residents aren’t equitably contributing. Water and sewer customers pay a higher water bill than those who live in the city, and Plain Township safety services often help with Canton calls.
Haws has heard concerns from dozens of Plain residents at township meetings and through calls and emails, he said.
The city is trying to reap economic benefits from townships without any collaboration, he said.
“If, hey, there's something in the center of Plain Township that they can't get to … [officials are saying] ‘We'll collaborate over here with you on this because there's really no direct way to get to you,’” Haws said. “‘However, because this is right here, butting up against us, we're just going to take it.’ That doesn't work for me.”
Haws also takes issue with water service being tied to annexation.
“Using a public utility as a means to coerce or force somebody into annexation is not acceptable,” he said.
Tying annexation to water not unheard of – but uncommon nowadays
A similar policy requiring annexation for water access helped Columbus quadruple in size in the 1950s, said Jason Reece, associate professor of urban planning at Ohio State University.
However, at that time, areas annexed were largely green fields, rather than longstanding townships, Reece said.
“It becomes much more complicated nowadays, because in many cases we are talking about cities and areas and spaces that are mostly built out,” Reece said.
Today, annexation is a relatively uncommon growth strategy, he added. Reece points to collaborative strategies, like joint economic development districts known as JEDDs, as more effective ways to increase revenue for both sides without jeopardizing townships’ identity.
“I think these things need to be handled delicately, because what you don’t want to do is build distrust within the region, because that’s going to make regional economic development even harder,” Reece said.
Plain Township Trustee Scott Haws is calling on the legislature to strengthen annexation rules to protect Ohio’s townships.
Haws is continuing conversations with Canton Mayor Bill Sherer and city council about existing agreements, like a municipal economic development agreement.
During his recent State of the City address, Sherer said conversations are ongoing with township leaders, but said he's not backing down on his aggressive annexation stance.
"The city has a lot of agreements with surrounding neighbors that need to be updated," Sherer said. "There is no reason why we can’t come up with agreements that benefit both communities going forward."
From February to the middle of March, Canton’s water service department, under Sherer’s guidance, denied water service transfers to Perry Township homebuyers amid an ongoing dispute between Sherer and the Perry trustees. Sherer later reversed course and allowed transfers for residential properties, but transfers involving commercial properties are still being denied.
The root of the dispute is an annexation clause in a Canton-Perry JEDD agreement, which prohibits Canton annexations without trustee approval for 50 years.
This JEDD agreement gives Canton the majority of income tax revenue – 2% of 2.5% total – from a parcel of land on the southeast side of Perry where a data center is planned. Supporters of the data center say it will provide a boon in tax revenue - while opponents, including Perry residents who live near the site, are concerned it will cause noise, traffic and environmental problems.
Perry trustees say the annexation clause was included in the agreement to ensure a collaborative working relationship with the city.
Negotiations are still ongoing.
In the meantime, Canton's new annexation ordinance has Stark County residents, like Eric and Penny Vick in Perry Township, concerned they won’t be able to eventually sell their house.
“We are retired. What if we … were thinking about selling and moving to Florida, or someplace smaller?” Penny Vick said. “Here, we are stuck.”
They’ve contacted their state legislators for help.
“The state has to make legislation that states that utilities can't be used in any type of negotiations or … What do I want to say?” Eric Vick said, looking toward his wife.
“Hostage situations,” she said.
“Yeah, hostage situations,” Vick added.
Perry is considering separating the township from Canton water service altogether. Trustees are exploring a contract with a private water company, Aqua Ohio.
Aqua currently serves the city of Massillon, including some Perry residents who live on the western side of the township.
