Area leaders consider revenue sharing

We are going to have to regionalize. Both on the reveneue (tax) side and the cost side. Regional Police, Fire and Rescue dispatching is one area. Water, Sewer and Utilities are another. Consolidated purchasing of common supplies is a third.

NO WAY !!!!

The pigs who are losing population and tax dollars from Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, and Canton will want theirs' first to fix their over spent budgets from the burbs who are doing okay. This is a BAD idea.

We don't need regionalization, we need jobs in Northeast Ohio that pay more then hamburger flipping minimum type wages.

Have you heard what Youngstown's mayor is doing to it's burbs Austintown & Boardman? The mayor proposed that the businesses & employees in those two burbs pay 2.25% income tax to Youngstown for water since Youngstown controls the local water supply. That's not regionalization, thats BLACKmail.

Well, I'm glad that the other mayors in the county are willin' to share their tax dollars with Akron. Goodness knows that Akron has shelled out plenty to keep a couple of businesses in the city.

Does anyone really think that local political "leaders" - term used lightly - could agree to such sharing arrangements?
I am highly doubtful...

One thing I am certain of is I'm sure they'll find a way to spend a couple million dollars studying it though..
wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Oh, I do SO hope that Tallmadge will be involved in this!

With Tallmadge's mayor being so blatantly anti-business, I'm sure he will want an infusion of funds from other cities in order to compensate for tax revenues which he's run out of town.

Cake? Eat it too?

This type of regionalism is an extremely important strategy, and I hope they pull it off.

Here's an example of how this can help the region. Suppose an insurance company wants to open an operations center in NE Ohio to service the area. Currently, the company makes their intentions known and several cities and suburbs make their pitches to the company, competing with each other to land it within their borders.

This means offering tax incentives. So, essentially, the location goes to the highest bidder, i.e., the town that offers the best tax deal. That means when offices of this type move in, the communities of NE Ohio aren't getting much tax revenue because they've had to slice each other's throats just to win the location.

The type of strategy mentioned in this article says that the communities of NE Ohio agree to not compete like this. Once a company chooses NE Ohio, the individual communities don't duke it out to get the location. They let the company choose, and then the communities SHARE the FULL tax revenue.

The second part of this plan shows itself in where there still IS competition. Between regions. The communities of NE Ohio, rather than squabbling among themselves, pool their resources to market the region as a whole. We increase our capacity to attract companies to our REGION. Perhaps the state or region offers tax incentives to get the company to select our REGION, but once the general area is chosen, the communities still work together rather than infighting.

Essentially, rather than expending resources fighting for crumbs, our local communities can combine forces and compete for bigger prizes.

Also, it's important to note that this revenue sharing only affects businesses that locate in the FUTURE. Say a community worked hard yesterday to be the home of company X. It would be unfair to expect that community to fork over its tax revenue today for the company it worked so hard to get. The revenue sharing agreements would only affect those deals that occur after the communities join forces.

Remember if your dealing with Mayor Plusquellic count your fingerts after the hand shake.

Stow by itself cannot compete globally against Shanghai.

Even so, while entire regions in various parts of the world rise, united, to face and effectively compete in the global economy, Northeast Ohio remains as decentralized and fragmented as ever. Worse still, many people here seem to take a disturbed sort of pride in our state of disarray.

Let's end this madness. The first step towards ending the rampant parochialism here in NE Ohio is for people to realize that suburbs are no more viable independent of their central cities than your arms and legs could survive without being connected to your torso and head.

Akron and Cleveland are facing serious economic issues. People used to think the problems wouldn't spread to suburbs like Hudson, Green and Medina. But many people who work in the central city live in the burbs, and so these places are also suffering lost tax revenues as businesses close down or leave NE Ohio, and people lose their jobs.

Even people who were once supposedly well-to-do are losing their homes to forclosure in the nicest and newest of surburbs. As these homes without occupants fall into disrepair, the very same symptoms of what has long been called "urban decay" including crime, disease and poverty will begin to settle into the suburbs and spread throughout them.

Tax sharing agreements will help to stop the infighting among NE Ohio communities. But it cannot be the only step we take forward. We also must begin to move towards a consolidated regional government, with the understanding that there is no such thing as a "city problem" or a "suburb problem" anymore.

We have to be careful here. On one hand there are benefits from regionalizing. On the other hand if the same people end up in charge, the region will suffer. The can do to NEO what they have done to Cleveland.

What if the burbs banded together first. After it is up and running - Cleveland, Akron & Youngstown could be added. Originally they would be non-voting members. They could potentially benefit fron the arrangement without dominating and dragging down the region.

what about the idea of northeast ohio seceding from ohio and forming our own state of western reserve . we have the top universities the top health care systems and most of what is left of the manfacturing industry. not to mention water and a trained work force.we could create a state that would be larger and have a greater ecnomic impact than most of the new england states.in the state constution we could make a provision for tax sharing and urban planning.if we can rebuild iraq, pakistan the balkan peninsula etc. why can't we rebuid northeast ohio

All of this regional planning mumbo jumbo is scary businesses. Places that have implemented it have become less competitive as they are burdened with rules on how much parking they can have, additional zoning procedures, and the aesthetics thereof. Check out http://saveportland.com/ for more information on regional planning gone way wrong.