ASHLAND — Ashland Mayor Matt Miller highlighted several projects and the city’s economic health during his fifth “state of the city” address Monday night at Ashland High School’s Archer Auditorium.
The event — attended by around 50 to 60 people — started with a short video highlighting the school district’s various buildings and accomplishments in 2022.
The city also teamed with the high school to provide a livestream broadcast, which could be viewed on the city’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
Ashland Council members and the school board joined Miller and interim superintendent Steve Paramore on the stage.
“This group that is on this stage tonight has one agenda — and that is to do the right thing,” said Steve Workman, Ward One councilman and council president, moments before welcoming Miller, the city’s 54th mayor serving a second term, to the podium.
Miller likened the city to “a body with many parts,” and characterized the school district as a “vital part.”
“The city government is the heart of this body,” he said. “And if we’re not doing our jobs well … than the whole body will suffer.”
Ashland, by the numbers
The mayor shared data from the city’s finance office that painted a bright economic future for Ashland. Miller said he looks at rising revenue from property, income and sales taxes as indicators of a healthy economy.
Property tax revenue jumped 6% in 2022, he said, which brought the city $2.5 million more than 2021 revenues. By law, most property taxes are allocated to school districts, but some of that revenue benefits the city.
Miller cited a Cleveland.com article from February 2022 that highlighted home sale prices in 14 counties in Northeast Ohio. According to data cited, Ashland County’s home sale prices led the pack with an average sales price of $209,368, a hike of 44.4% from January 2021
“(These numbers) show that our property values are going up,” Miller said, adding he thinks the reason for that is because “people want to be here.”
Sales tax revenue climbed 22% in the last two years, a hike that Miller said was “unheard of” and “record setting.”
“That is a good indication that something is going well here in the city of Ashland,” Miller said.
Income tax revenue has climbed 27% in the last two years, the mayor touted.
“That means, in 2022, we brought $2.7 million more dollars than we did the previous year,” he said. “That shows that, number one, our businesses are being profitable … and number two, it shows us that our people are working, and most likely working for higher wages.”
Projects
The mayor said the city’s building department oversaw 40 projects equaling $200 million in 2022.
Some of those projects included resurfacing 22 streets and 16 alleys in 2022. He also highlighted the use of a product meant to stretch the life of the new asphalt by another three years or so.
Other projects he touched on were the reconstruction of the Claremont Avenue bridge, the restoration of a hydrapillar, the resurfacing of the city’s Parking Lot B in downtown, the completion of pickle ball courts at Cahn Grove Park and the installation of a new deck at Brookside Golf Course, an arch on Main Street and a Rotary Club clock near Foundation Plaza in downtown.
The mayor said the city’s police and fire services saw improvements in 2022, highlighting the purchasing of body cams for police and a $1.5 million purchase of a new ladder truck for the fire department.
He spoke about Charles River Laboratories, the city’s largest employer, and that company’s plan to construct a 200,000 square-foot facility that will bring an estimated 500 jobs to the area.
Miller said the expansion project ran into a “snag” when Columbia Gas doubted it could provide enough natural gas to the new facility without building extra infrastructure to support the inflow of the utility.
“That project will move forward, but probably in 2024,” he said.
Other projects he mentioned were the city’s purchase of 35 acres of land adjacent to the existing industrial park, a move that supports the city’s effort to court additional manufacturers to the area.
He also expressed the city’s support of the Ashland County Women’s Fund Childcare Initiative plan to bring a facility that is gearing up for construction this year.
The mayor set a new completion date for the Schine Theatre, a $4.5 million project that has been in the works — with many deadlines missed — since 2015.
“Believe it or not, we believe it will be complete by the end of March,” Miller said.
Miller mentioned the construction of a new public transit headquarters in downtown Ashland and a condominium development on land at the intersection of Smith and Baney roads, both projects which are set to begin in 2023.
Pump House District
The mayor announced that the Pump House building — which the county purchased in 2020 and the city bought late last year to resell it to a developer — is now being eyed by an unnamed hotel developer.
Miller said the dilapidated building could be completely restored into a “boutique hotel” with 70 rooms.
The rest of the district, he said, is still being eyed by Vision Development, a Columbus firm, for apartments and retail spaces.
