As early as next year, elected township officials — trustees and fiscal officers — might be required to reveal their finances just as elected officials do in Ohio cities.
A bill in the state legislature, sponsored by Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, would require annual financial disclosure statements from elected officials in townships with a population of at least 5,000. Officials in cities already are required to provide those forms.
“It’s an issue of transparency in government,” Lehner said. “It’s something that the public expects.”
Lehner said she recalled thinking about the inequity in the law during the eight years she served on the Ohio Ethics Commission in the 1990s. She was appointed by former Gov. George Voinovich and served as its director for two years.
“Twenty percent of our cases deal with townships. If you saw something, you could recognize ahead of time if someone may have a potential conflict,” Lehner said Wednesday.
Paul Nick, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission, said the agency favors the action and expects to testify in support of the bill, possibly as early as next week “because the commission believes it will bring parity with other elected officials,” he said Tuesday.
“Our advocacy of the issue is due to parity — to treat townships like cities,” Nick said.
Township officials are subject to state ethics law but not the disclosure requirement.
Of the 77 townships in the five-county area of Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit and Wayne counties, 31 have populations greater than 5,000. Together, these large townships have 357,876 residents, or about a quarter of the total population in the area.
The four largest townships are in Stark County.
“Jackson Township is larger than 85 percent of the cities in Ohio,” township Fiscal Officer Randy Gonzalez said. He oversees a $32 million annual budget for Jackson, the area’s largest township with more than 40,000 residents.
The Ohio Township Association, while in favor of the requirement, is suggesting the 5,000 population threshold should be increased to 15,000, said Helen Humphrys, president-elect of the Summit County Township Association.
Humphrys, a Copley Township trustee, took exception to the fees trustees would be charged when filing disclosure forms. Copley is the fifth largest township in the area with more than 17,000 residents.
“Trustees have not had a raise in years, and the fee is set by law. To me, the $35 fee is excessive, especially since in 99 percent of the cases there would be nothing to report,” she said, but added she personally would have no problem complying if the bill becomes law.
By nature, townships are the most economical form of government in the state, she said.
“We are the most efficient form of government. We run circles around cities,” Humphrys said Wednesday.
Townships can provide a variety of services to residents, such as road improvements, parks, police and fire protection, and emergency medical care. The financial statements would disclose such information as business interests, family members, gifts and other sources of income, so official actions could be scrutinized for possible conflicts.
“It certainly would be helpful to have access to records, date, sources of income, sources of gifts,” Nick said.
Springfield Township in southeastern Summit County ranks sixth in the five-county region’s largest townships with a population of 14,644.
“On the local level, I haven’t seen a problem,” Trustee Dean Young said. But he agreed that “transparency in government is a good thing.”
Stark County’s Plain Township ranks second in population in the area with almost 35,000 residents. Trustee Scott Haws said he has no problem complying with the requirement if it becomes law.
“I believe in full disclosure, and I’m willing to file a financial disclosure statement if that is what the legislature requires,” he said.
Lehner said she can find no rationale for why officials from larger townships always have been exempt from disclosing their finances under Ohio law.
“When the ethics law was written, the Township Association had a very good lobbyist,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.