Brookfield trustees have plenty of questions about the street lighting districts in town: What are the boundaries of the lighting districts? Why are the residents of some districts charged so much more than residents in other districts? Why is a township fund that once had a $90,000 surplus now bringing in less than the amount being charged for electricity? Why are some properties in a district not being assessed?

The trustees would like to get answers to those questions but the immediate need on Dec. 2 was to stem – but not eliminate – the deficit for 2026. Trustees raised rates in all lighting districts by 25 percent.

The actual dollar amounts of the increase are not much, although Trustee Dan Suttles said he took an angry call from a resident when the trustees raised rates by 25 percent last year and the resident had to pay an extra $2.

Owners of properties in lighting districts pay an assessment on their property taxes. The assessment money goes to the township to pay Ohio Edison for electricity to power the streetlights and to maintain them. As of the Dec. 2 meeting, the township had received $25,117 in assessments for lighting districts, but Ohio Edison had charged $34,000 said township Fiscal Officer Dena McMullin.

The increased rates should bring in another $5,000, which still will not cover the deficit. The trustees said they were not willing to charge more than 25 percent at one time.

The township pays shortfalls out of the general fund, which the trustees said is unfair because that means property owners who do not have streetlights in their neighborhoods are subsidizing those who do. A blanket increase also is unfair, trustees said, because it penalizes residents who pay their tax bills when there are many people who do not pay their taxes.

McMullin said the lighting district that already pays the highest assessment – Valley View 2, $60.24 a year – only has a delinquency of $27.65. “It’s not right to make people in the district pay more because the people throughout the township aren’t doing it,” McMullin said.

Trustees Shannon Devitz, who lives in the Valley View 2 lighting district, said she agreed to raise rates in all districts in the short term, “until we figure out what we need to do.”

“I do not agree with keeping it this way forever,” she said.

“The bottom line is we can’t continue that kind of deficit,” Trustee Mark Ferrara said. “I’m not comfortable kicking the can down the road. No one wants to pay a couple more dollars but that will help.”

The trustees said they will try to set up a meeting with representatives of the Trumbull County auditor’s office and Ohio Edison to try to get answers to their questions so they can set fair rates for each lighting district that covers the cost of having streetlights.

“If it takes four meetings and four hours a piece, so be it,” Suttles said. “Let’s get it done.”

Once the trustees learn the boundaries of the lighting districts, they can determine which properties are not being assessed for streetlights. Bringing on additional taxpayers should help ease the burden on property owners who have been paying for streetlights, they said.

Residents in lighting districts will pay the following rates per year, with the old rates in parentheses:

  • Warren Sharon Road Lighting District (20-319): $42.49 ($33.99). This district has 114 properties.
  • Masury Lighting District (20-320): $9.81 ($7.85). 484 properties.
  • Sharon Lighting District (20-321): $12.14 ($9.71). 663 properties.
  • Valley View Lighting District 1 (20-322): $33.26 ($26.61). 158 properties.
  • Yankee Hill Lighting District: (20-323) $47.74 ($38.19).  50 properties.
  • Brookfield Center Lighting District: (20-324): $17.24 ($13.79). 140 properties.
  • Valley View Lighting District 2 (20-325): $75.30 ($60.24). 31 properties.
  • Jacqueline Drive Lighting District (20-327): $4.69 ($3.75). 19 properties.
  • David Lane (20-328), a newly created district with 27 properties. Rates have not been set.

Check your tax bill to learn in which lighting district your property is located.

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