The Union Township Trustees filed a lawsuit against the Licking County Village of Hebron to try to collect tax money village residents didn’t vote for, the village didn’t collect and for which the village received no services from Union Township.
This has Hebron Mayor Valerie Mockus perplexed and frustrated – and troubled about how a decision in this case could cost Hebron taxpayers more than $500,000. She also is concerned that a decision against the village in the case could set a precedent that would negatively affect other villages and cities across Ohio.
“In my view, this is a constitutional issue,” Mockus said, explaining that she sees the legal action by her neighbors in Union Township as an attempt at “taxation without representation.”
“We don’t make people pay taxes they didn’t vote on,” she said.
The lawsuit was filed in April at the Ohio Supreme Court by the Licking County prosecutor’s office on behalf of Union Township. The prosecutor’s office often serves as the lawyer for local jurisdictions within the county – including Hebron, Mockus said – but in this case, the prosecutor’s office couldn’t represent both sides.
So Hebron, population 2,400, has hired lawyers to fight the lawsuit, and that expense is among Mockus’s frustrations with this case.
Another is that Union Township Trustees John Slater, Jeff Sharps and Roger Start went to court rather than talk it out with Hebron officials. Sharps said by email on May 7 that the trustees are referring all questions to the prosecutor’s office.
“The challenging part from my perspective is that if the village has to pay this, we’ll have to pay a half million a year or more, and I don’t know how we’d do that,” Mockus said. “We’d have to take half a million out of police or other departments. We’d have to gut departments.”
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon L. Kennedy on May 6 ordered mediation in the case and wrote that “the court will not issue any decision on the merits of this case until mediation has concluded.”
Darcy T. Cook, Licking County chief assistant prosecuting attorney for the civil division, said in an email that the prosecutor’s office “asked the Ohio Supreme Court for guidance because this is one of first impression, meaning that there are no court decisions that have interpreted the statute in this particular factual scenario.
“Asking for the Court’s guidance is the lawful way to ensure that we are following the law, and mediation is a useful tool in our judicial system that conserves resources,” Cook wrote on May 7. “We are working within the system to achieve a lawful resolution, and so we welcome the process as the Court sees fit.”
Cook did not answer a question about how Union Township officials could expect to collect tax money from people who don’t live in Union Township, couldn’t and didn’t vote for the 7-mill tax levy Union Township wants Hebron residents to pay, and for which Hebron residents received no services.
When asked again for an answer to that question, Licking County Prosecutor Jenny Wells wrote in an email, “We have answered your question. Read the statute. The Supreme Court will determine this matter in the courtroom or in mediation.”
The question remains key for Mockus, who sees the township’s claim as an attempt at taxation without representation and a move that would cripple the Hebron village budget, potentially forcing layoffs and cuts in services – such as police protection and paving streets.
The legal dust-up stems from a former relationship between Union Township and Hebron to provide fire protection. A couple of devastating fires in the early 1900s inspired the creation of a fire department in Hebron, which the village operated alone for years until costs became prohibitive, Mockus said.
Over time, the village developed a relationship with Union Township for fire service, and in 2019, Hebron and Union Township formed the Refugee-Canyon Joint Fire District to provide fire and emergency medical services to the township and village.
The district ceased operation in August 2022, and Union Township contracted with the West Licking Joint Fire District and the Granville Township Fire Department for fire and EMS services.
Hebron officials decided at that point to secede from Union Township under a state law that allowed the village council to vote on Sept. 7, 2022, to create a “paper township” – Hebron Township – that conforms with its village boundaries. The Licking County Commissioners approved the new Hebron Township the next day.
At the same time, rather than contract with the West Licking Joint Fire District for fire and EMS services, Hebron joined the district. So Hebron residents vote on fire district tax issues and have been paying taxes to that district since 2022.
The Hebron firehouse remains open and staffed by many of the same people who worked there in the past, and by being part of a larger organization, Mockus said, equipment is well-maintained and updated regularly, and staffing is consistent because back-up staffing is readily available.
Cook wrote that The Ohio Revised Code “creates a compensation payment” from the municipality to the township when a boundary is adjusted in the manner employed by Hebron to leave Union township and become its own township. The statute prescribes a weaning process of diminishing payments across 12 years.
Hebron officials understand that some compensation is required, Mockus said, and Hebron has been paying Union Township for the value of taxes that were in place in 2022 – but not for taxes Union Township residents approved after 2022, including the 7-mill levy they approved in 2024.
And that’s the crux of the legal dispute.
Union Township officials, based on a calculation by the Licking County auditor’s office, argue in court filings that they are entitled to $552,941 – $477,925 of which is for the 7-mill levy approved by Union Township after Hebron left it.
And now, the supreme court has told the two parties to talk it out.
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.