Scio Township makes sure some funding is in the right place

It took a few meetings, but the Scio Township Board has officially clarified some funding use.

At its June 13 meeting, the Scio Township Board clarified the use of 2013 Township-wide Roads SAD (Special Assessment District) Funds for Transportation Alternative Projects (TAP) and Uplands Scio Ridge Sidewalks. The fiscal impact of this saw $17,150.01 transferred from Parks and Pathways Fund 208 to Township wide Roads Fund 400 while the Fund 400 unassigned balance increased from $1,137,231 to $1,602,858.

In the meeting packet, township clerk Jessica Flintoft, in italics here, said “this item appeared under New Business on May 9th, but the Board of Trustees decided to adjourn the meeting before attending to this item. Per Rule 4.2, this item appeared atop New Business on May 23rd. Again, the Board of Trustees decided to adjourn that meeting before attending to this item. Per Rule 4.2, this item now appears atop New Business here.”

“The Board of Trustees has acknowledged this issue, and the Clerk committed to drafting a resolution to fix the issue. The Resolution sets forth the reasons and proposed actions.”

“Subsequent to that Supervisor Hathaway and Trustee Reiser raised questions to the Clerk about the fact that a May 10 2022 Board motion authorizing a project says "Fund 400" with no mention in the motion it was from the 10% TAP allocation. The May 10 2022 Board action was submitted by the TAP Committee and was supported by the TAP committee who was formally charged with making recommendations for this 10% TAP allocation.”

“The Board adopted it with no discussion, and so, the only documentation available is what is in Agenda Packet and the Minutes of an adopted motion which states only "Fund 400."

“To address Trustee Reiser and Supervisor Hathaway's questions, while still keeping the legislative record clear, I have split the one resolution of May 9th into two resolutions--one to correct the 10% TAP issue, and a second to correct the other expenditure of Fund 400.”

“Both of these resolutions together accomplish what the single resolution intended to do.”

The Sun Times News followed up with township supervisor Will Hathaway to ask why this was needed and what the township community should know about this:

“The original Township-wide Road Special Assessment District was established by the Scio Board of Trustees in 2013. The members of the Board at that time thought that they had included a clause that dedicated 10% of the revenue (about $500K) to go toward transportation alternative planning (TAP). Examples of TAP projects include amenities to serve pedestrians and bicyclists. Unfortunately, the 2013 SAD did not include any stipulation about TAP funding. This was discovered many years later, after Scio had formed a TAP Committee that had formulated plans for non-motorized pathways. The members of the Board in 2020 attempted to correct this by passing a resolution dedicating 10% of the SAD revenue to TAP projects. Last year, the current Board learned that this action was not appropriate because it is not permitted to modify a Special Assessment District after the fact. The action on last night's agenda was a revocation of the 2020 Board's erroneous attempt to fix the 2013 SAD. This was also approved.”

Here's a timeline of the related decisions:

• 2013 BOT established the Township-wide Road Improvement SAD
• 2017 BOT established the Transportation Alternatives Planning (TAP) Committee
• 2020 BOT placed a Parks/Pathways millage on the ballot (passed in August 2020 with over 70% of vote)
• 2020 BOT adopted a resolution dedicating 10% of the Township-wide Road Improvement SAD to TAP projects
• 2022 BOT merged the TAP Committee and Parks Advisory Board into current Parks, Preserves & Pathways Committee
• 2023 Resolution to rescind the 2020 dedication of 10% to TAP