Some residents to see increase in streetlight utility payments

by Laura Bednar

Sept. 16 township trustees meeting

Bath Township trustees approved an annual 3.5% increase in the assessment cost for street lighting on township roads, which will be paid by residents on six different streets.

Township Administrator/Police Chief Vito Sinopoli said state law allows townships to recover utility expenses related to street lighting and Bath had previously been collecting 7.5% of the lighting cost for properties on St. Vincent Drive, Holliston Road, St. Francis Street, N. Revere Road, Maple Ridge and Johnson Circle.

Bath filed an assessment with Summit County this year with a 2.5% increase, totaling 10%, which costs $25.04 per residence for collection year 2025.

According to the resolution, “Residential properties subject to the street lighting assessment are determined by the records of the Summit County Fiscal Officer.”

Trustee Sharon Troike clarified that not every resident on the listed streets would be billed as some properties are within Akron’s jurisdiction. The cost will increase by 3.5% annually with a cap of 50% of the utility cost for those properties.

“It’s been decades since this procedure was put together,” said Troike. “We’ve been eating costs for awhile.”

Trustees also approved appropriating $600,000 to the township’s permanent improvement fund for the service building expansion. This fund is used for projects throughout the township, and the money in it has not been appropriated for a particular project.

Troike said Service Director Caine Collins is using his department’s share of American Rescue Plan Act funds towards the expansion and the township will cover the remaining balance.

In other news

The Bath Park Board donated a bench in memory of former Parks Director Alan Garner, who passed away in 2023. The bench will be placed on the Triple-Loop Trail of the North Fork Preserve.

The township is applying for a $3,400 grant from the Bath Community Fund to purchase signage that outlines the Heritage Barns of Bath Trail to be placed at the Wayside Exhibit, the trail’s first stop. A portion of the grant would also be used to send 20 people to barn art workshops. ∞