Patton: City faces numerous challenges
By Kevin Kelley
Fairview Park
Published March 15, 2006

The pending closure of two buildings at NASA’s Glenn Research Center is but one of the many challenges looming on the horizon for the city of Fairview Park, Mayor Eileen Patton said March 8 during her annual state of the city address before the Fairview Park Chamber of Commerce.

“Our challenges comes in all sizes, shapes and amounts,” the mayor said.

These challenges include threats to the city’s three largest sources of income.

City officials were formally told by NASA in January that two buildings on the north side of Brookpark Road will be closed by October 2007. The 521 employees who work there represent Fairview Park’s largest employer.

	Podcast Fairview Park Mayor Eileen Patton gave her annual city report to the Chamber of Commerce March 8 MP3 • 4.7MB • DOWNLOAD

At a Friday meeting at Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s Lakewood office, Patton said the Fairview Park will lose $631,000 in income tax once those buildings close.

“Many contracting jobs have recently left, and we are feeling that departure in our revenue,” Patton said in her speech.

However, the mayor said the city will approach the NASA setback as an opportunity. City officials have been vigorously seeking other tenants for the property.

“We have toured the two buildings and have taken a prospective tenant there,” Patton said. “We do not know how temporary this closure is going to be.”

The closure of Westgate Mall, which had been in a moribund state for years, has also resulted in a major decline in tax dollars, the mayor said. However, some of the lost revenue will be made up from income taxes paid by construction workers. The redeveloped Westgate, which will open in the second half of 2007, will be the city’s third largest contributor to its tax base, Patton said.

The second largest contributor, the Fairview Park City School District, is currently under going a restructuring, Patton noted. Last month, the school board approved $2.6 million in permanent cuts, which include the elimination of two dozen teaching positions.

“With the elimination of positions, this too affects our city income tax base,” the mayor said.

Patton said that while the city ended 2005 in a positive financial position, the city’s financial health will require a high level of vigilance.

The mayor reported that:

• Income tax revenue from 2004 to 2005 fell by $310,000, or 8.4 percent.
• Estate tax revenue increased by $100,000, or 25.2 percent.
• General Fund revenue decreased by $554,000, or 6.1 percent, to $8,571,100.

Patton later told West Life the declines in revenue will force the city to not only dip into its reserves but exhaust them in the coming year.

Replacing the income tax lost from the two NASA Glenn buildings is “the critical key to the future of Fairview Park,” Patton said.

The mayor said her administration will work with all city employees to get through the coming challenges. The city’s commitment to redevelopment and conservative approach to finances, which led to the Moody’s investment firm raising the bond rating from A2 to A1 in June, will help the city address the coming difficulties, Patton said.

The city’s goal is to continue the high standards of services residents have come to expect, the mayor said.

“We have before us challenges,” Patton said. “But challenges can be overcome as I work with all the excellent employees in facing and working on these together.

“As we face these challenges together they will make us stronger, more creative and unified.”