Standing-room crowd turns out amid fears communities could go dark
BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio — Worried Maynard and Barton residents in Belmont County packed the Colerain Township hall Thursday evening, many bringing their tax bills and AEP statements, anxious to find out whether their street lights were about to go out and their communities go dark.
What they found was a room full of county officials trying to piece together how a funding shortfall — years in the making — had quietly drained the township’s street lighting accounts.
Colerain Township Trustees Jeff Gazdik, Don Semancik and John Yoker called the special meeting ahead of their regular monthly session, bringing in Belmont County Auditor Cindi Henry, Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney TJ Shultz, and Colerain Township Fiscal Officer Vince Gianangeli, who also serves as a Belmont County Commissioner, to help find answers and a path forward.
A Program Born from Necessity
The township’s street lighting program dates back to 1978.
Gazdik laid out the history for the crowd. “From my understanding, they had a tax on the bars in the community, an alcohol tax,” he said. “They paid for the street lights. Well, the bars were closing. The coal mines were closing. They didn’t have the income to pay for the street lights. So they went out to the people.”
Not everyone wanted to keep the lights. “I know Maynard all wanted their street lights to stay,” Gazdik said. “There was only two sections in Barton that wanted to stay from my understanding — West Loretta and East Loretta were the two sections in Barton that wanted the street lights to remain.”
A special assessment was created, charging residents $3.50 per year, with lights placed 225 feet apart. Properties closer to a light paid slightly more; those farther away paid slightly less. The assessment has to be renewed every 10 years to make sure enough revenue is coming in to cover the ever-rising electric bill.
That renewal process is where the trouble began.
“We screwed up probably around 2013, 2014. We did not renew the 10-year. We missed the date,” Gianangeli told the crowd.
How the Money Disappeared
The township operates three street lighting districts — Light District 1 covering Barton and Maynard, Light District 2 covering Blaine and Lansing, and Light District 3 covering the Pine Terrace area.
Between 2021 and 2022, revenue to Light District 1 fell by nearly 50 percent. At the same time, AEP electricity prices were rising, as the utility replaced wooden poles with metal ones and passed the costs along to consumers. The combination of shrinking revenue and growing expenses forcing the township to tap its general fund to keep the lights on.
Officials traced the revenue collapse to a pair of compounding problems. When Maynard residents joined a fire district, their county auditor parcel numbers changed — and roughly 59 properties fell off the special assessment rolls entirely, simply stopping payment without anyone catching it. Around the same time, the auditor’s office transitioned to new software, and officials believe the rate mix-up and parcel retirements coincide with that change.
The missed renewal deadline years earlier had already left the district on shaky ground, with 57 Maynard properties and 38 Barton properties previously identified as not paying their assessments.
There was considerable confusion in the room Thursday night about exactly how the problem had gone undetected for so long. Residents who brought their own tax bills and AEP statements to the meeting ended up providing information from the floor that helped officials piece together the issue.
When asked how long it would take to sort out and fix the problem, Auditor Cindi Henry was blunt. “It’s anybody’s guess,” she said. Throughout the evening, Henry repeatedly directed frustrated residents to the county auditor’s website, walking them through how to look up their individual property tax information and find a breakdown of where their levy money goes.
No Lights Going Out — For Now
After the public discussion, trustees entered executive session with the prosecutor’s office to determine what legal options the township had. When they returned, Gazdik delivered the news residents had come to hear — the lights are staying on.
Trustees announced they will not shut off any street lights while corrections are being made, pledging to continue covering costs from the general fund if the light district funds run short. They also announced they will not attempt to go back and collect the difference from residents who had been underpaying or not paying at all during the years the assessments fell off the rolls.
Instead, the township will conduct a thorough review of Light District 1 with the help of the deputy county auditor, identifying who is currently paying, at what rate, and what needs to be corrected. New corrected assessments are expected to take effect in 2026, with the first collections under the corrected rates arriving in 2027.
Adding to the urgency, officials noted that Light Districts 1 and 2 are both due for their mandatory 10-year renewal in 2026. That process will require a full review of whether current rates are sufficient to cover costs. If an increase is needed, residents would be notified before any change takes effect.
What Comes Next
Trustees said they expect to receive new reports from the county auditor’s office within days and will begin a detailed review of the district’s payment rolls. Updates are expected at the next regular trustees meeting, at a date officials said would be determined later for April.
Officials said they are not considering a levy for the lights.
Gazdik sought to reassure the crowd as the meeting wrapped up, making clear the township’s commitment. Whatever the assessment ends up being, he said, the township is not in the business of running a lighting district at a deficit — but neither is it in the business of leaving its communities in the dark.
