West Selby Blvd bridge construction

The City of Worthington will be replacing the bridge over Rush Run creek on West Selby Blvd in the fall of 2024. West Selby is the only roadway that serves the 75 homes in the Northbrook neighborhood immediately to the east of Riverlea. The bridge replacement project has been designed in such a way that one lane will remain open to traffic. However the engineers are not confident that the bridge will be able to support heavy vehicles during construction.

Worthington has asked that a temporary roadway be opened up at the east end of Melbourne Place in Riverlea to connect to Northbrook Drive West in Worthington. The intention is that it would only be used by heavy vehicles, including emergency vehicles, garbage trucks, and school buses. Construction on the bridge is estimated to take about three months, at which point the connector will be removed and the site restored to its original condition.

Council will be considering a resolution to grant Worthington a temporary right of way easement for this purpose at the regular meetings on September 18, October 16 and November 20. Please feel free to attend one of those meetings or contact Mayor Eric MacGilvray if you have any suggestions or feedback.

Fire & EMS levy

A property tax increase to fund fire and EMS service from the City of Worthington will be on the ballot in November. Service in the Sharon Township Fire District, which is comprised of the Village of Riverlea and the unincorporated portions of Sharon Township, is currently funded by a levy of approximately $145,000, an amount which has remained unchanged since 1994. The City reports that the Township Fire District now accounts for about 12% of their served population and 15% of their service runs, but only about 2% of their revenue.

Representatives from the City, the Township, and the Village have reached an agreement to bring revenues more closely in line with the level of service provided while spacing out the tax increases and creating some clarity with regard to the future:

(1) A new $500,000 property tax levy will be placed on the ballot in November 2023, which if approved would be collected in addition to the existing $145,000 levy. This is a revaluation year so the exact millage is to be determined, but it should be on the order of 4 mils, or roughly $125 per $100,000 of assessed market value. The exact figures will be available later this year.

(2) A second levy will be placed on the ballot in 2026, 2027, or 2028, in the amount of $370,000, $450,000, or $550,000 depending on the year. Sharon Township Trustees will decide at a later date which year to put the levy forward.

(3) Voters will have two consecutive chances to pass the first levy (November 2023 and March 2024), and until the end of 2028 to pass the second levy, before the Township is considered to be in breach of contract with the Fire Department.

(4) The City will not ask for any further revenue increases from the Township for at least five years after certification of the second levy.

We will hold one or two public forums in the Village to discuss this issue, probably in the late summer and fall, so stay tuned for updates.