The City of London Ohio

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As Mayor of London, Ohio, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our friendly and exceptional community. London is the county seat of Madison County, conveniently located in central Ohio. The city is well-situated near three interstate highways. Having Franklin County and the City of Columbus as neighbors provides the residents of London with big city amenities easily accessible from our rural community. The local schools, parks, library, churches, hospital and medical offices are of excellent quality.

The City of London lives up to its motto, A PROUD HERITAGE…A PROMISING FUTURE by providing a friendly hometown atmosphere. Opportunities for additional growth and development are endless within the city. The downtown area has recently undergone some refreshing revisions.

The year 2011 is the 200th anniversary of the City of London and many events will take place in the year of celebration, with the Fourth of July Parade and many other events

The city of London Ohio is also home to the Strawberry Festival in June, which is joined by the Central Ohio COBRA club on Saturday with their COBRA show. Other city-wide events include the Patriotic Celebration showcasing fireworks along with family-friendly activities on July 3rd, the county fair in July, the Jazz and Rib Fest on the first Friday of August and our OLDE FASHIONED CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION the Monday following Thanksgiving.  This event has become a traditional evening of fun and shopping... featuring carriage rides down Main Street. Check our City of London website for updates.

Citizens are proud of their growing community and welcome visitors to come and enjoy our hospitality and participate in the community events. The Bicentennial group and the FMCPT have Bicentennial items for sale.

David Eades
Mayor of the City of London

Letter to the Editor,

I want to again express my appreciation to the voters in the city of London for their support in passing the levy. I also thank the Madison-Press and the Madison County Chamber of Commerce for their endorsement and support of the levy. The city would have been facing a far worse situation than it currently faces.

There is some thinking among members of the Kasich administration and a few professional organizations that the state should offer cities and municipalities a “service” which, in my opinion is presenting us with an idea that amounts to a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Let me provide some history on action that the state has taken to put our city and other local governments on the way downstream without a paddle.

    The local government fund was created in the 1930’s  to assist local governments in providing services to their citizens after the state passed down some additional responsibilities to local governments. Through the years, that fund has continued to be a source of revenue to local governments.

 At various times there have rumblings about changing the local government fund. With the arrival of the Kasich administration they decided it was their money and reduced the fund by 25% in 2011 and will take another 25% in 2012.

 The state also took all of the C.A.T. tax (Commercial Activity Tax) from local governments. This tax was created by Governor Taft’s administration to replace the inventory tax. The state also set a date of 1/1/2013 to end the inheritance tax.

 The aforementioned taxes provided a source of revenue for local governments which allowed them to provide many day to day services that provides necessities for everyday living in a community like the City of London such as police and fire protection, recreational activities, and street lights among others. These reductions in funds to local governments results in a need for local governments to seek additional revenue such as raising fees or requesting additional tax revenue to balance their budgets.

 During the recent campaign I heard candidates for State offices ads touting that they balanced the budget without raising taxes.

 What they neglected to say was they did it at the expense of local governments.

And now they want more from cities and towns like London.

 The Ohio Certified Public Accountants Association and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce along with the State of Ohio are looking to have the State of Ohio Department of Taxation take over collecting municipal income taxes.

 Should this happen it will cause another loss in revenue to local governments because the State would collect and then take a cut for its services, andreturn some of the money to the local governments.

 For example, the state of New Jersey has been collecting the municipal taxes. Consequently, those funds have become fair game and more and more are being diverted to state coffers and less to local governments. History would lead me to believe that the State of Ohio would be tempted to follow suit.

    The London City Council along with other local governments have passed resolutions opposing the takeover by the state of Ohio.

Local governments such as London can’t afford to have the State of Ohio take over the collection of our municipal tax. If this should happen, it would result in a loss of much needed revenue for our city.

    Recently, LT. Governor Mary Taylor spoke at the local Chamber of Commerce and also at the Lincoln Day Dinner about the Administration’s (Common Sense Initiative) she remarked that Ohio was one of the worst states on taxes for businesses.

    I have a report from the Ohio Business Development Coalition dated July 12, 2011 that ranks Ohio as 5^th best State for business development, from a previous ranking of 29^th , because of the multi year effort of a tax overhaul. In part it reads “State’s business-friendly redesign helps companies retain more profits and keep costs down.” This report also credits a statement from former Tax Director Tom Zaino that Ohio was recently recognized as having the 3^rd friendliest tax environment in the nation.

So, where does this tax friendly environment which often provides multi-year tax abatements lead?

How about into the coffers of local municipalities like our city of London. If the state has its way, our city’s tax accounts could see reductions in revenue that we can not afford.

Please join me in contacting your State representatives and sharing your opinion that this legislation under consideration would noit be beneficial to our community.

 By the way, we currently have an excellent staff in our tax department. One of the services they offer is free city tax preparation, thus saving you the cost of a tax preparer.

David G. Eades Mayor