Cuyahoga Falls City Council holds regular meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Council committee meetings are held on the first and third Mondays in order to allow councilmembers to publicly discuss pending legislation that will be voted on at regular meetings. The public is free to comment on pending legislation during the allowed time set aside as part of committee meetings.
Finance & Appropriations:
B-116: An ordinance establishing annual appropriations of money for the current expenses, capital expenditures, and other expenses of the City of Cuyahoga Falls for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. City council began discussion on the city’s 2024 budget. This week’s discussion centered around budgets for the mayor’s office, city council, and the departments lead by the mayor’s cabinet members. Finance Committee Chair Mary Nichols Rhodes lead the discussions and Finance Director Bryan Hoffman presented the proposed budget to the committee. Highlights for the budget include the addition of a second deputy service director in the service department and replacing staff that retired in 2023 in the engineering department. The rest of the departments discussed, such as the mayor’s office and city council, report that their expenses will be very close to what they were last year. Mayor Walters also commented on the 2024 budget by saying that with housing prices on the rise along with commercial development increasing across the city, he can say something no mayor of the city has said before— appropriations in this budget will be one quarter of a billion dollars. Projects the mayor cited in his comments included continued increases in the paving budget, projecting it to be $3.5 million by 2025. Other needed projects include the Baily/Northmoreland corridor and South State Rd. Walters also cited beginning the State and Seasons project and other improvements including lighting upgrades to the Portage Trail Bridge. Finance Director Bryan Hoffman also reported that at the end of 2024 the general fund balance will be approximately $26 million. Budget hearings will continue throughout the month of November on Monday nights during finance committee meetings at 6:30 pm.
B-117: An ordinance consenting to the resurfacing of State Route 8 from the southern corporation limit to the northern corporation limit, within the City of Cuyahoga Falls, by the State of Ohio, authorizing financial cooperation thereof. This was presented by City Engineer Tony Demasi. It is legislation that allows ODOT to pave the Route 8 expressway that passes through the city. He said the project will start at Glenwood Ave. and continue to Graham Rd. This is a $5 million project funded 100% by ODOT that will start April 2025 and finish in October of the same year. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before full council Monday November 13.
Public Affairs:
B-123: An ordinance amending and/or supplementing Title 7 Taxation, Chapter 164, Municipal Income Tax, to comply with state law mandates. City Income Tax Director Matt Skitzki went over the changes that the State of Ohio has made to the income tax code and 5 out of the 6 new mandates are already practiced in Cuyahoga falls. The only change that will be needed for our tax code is that the state has decreased the maximum fine from $150 for a violation to $25. This would cost the city an estimated 30k per year. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote before full council next week.
Miscellaneous Business:
During the public affairs committee,a public hearing was held, as agreed upon during passage of the DORA agreement, that provided for an evaluation of the terms and conditions after six months, as provided when ordinance 41-2023 passed six months ago. During the original discussion neighbors and city officials cited four areas of concern moving forward. The first was an increase in crime. Anthony Gomez, Clerk of Cuyahoga Falls Mayors Court, stated that in 2022 the court processed 200 incidents of disorderly conduct and 21 of them occurred in the area that is now the DORA. He went on to say that in 2023 the court processed 151 disorderly conducts and only 8 were in the boundaries of the DORA. The second concern was trash, which has not been reported as a problem; however, the parks department still needs to purchase and place recycle containers in the area. The third was noise in the area of the condos on the northern boundary and residents have not reported any problems. The fourth and final concern was the Paradise Club. Deputy Director of Community Development Mary Spaugy stated that her office had reached out to them via e-mail and have had no response. Executive Director of the DTCF Partnership Kylee Piper also made a presentation stating that her organization sold over 30,000 cups to the license holders participating in the program giving DTCF a revenue of $19k with expenses of $5k for administrating the program. The initial agreement is valid for a period of five years. Public Affairs Chairman Rachel Loza has scheduled another public hearing for Monday May 6 to review the agreement again prior to the summer patio/festival season.
