Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) loans are made available to communities in Ohio to help finance necessary infrastructure work. They are typically 10 year loans without interest. Sylvania Township has taken out several of these loans for township road projects in the township. Lucas County has also taken out several of these loans for county road projects located in the township (ex. King Road, McCord Road, Sylvania Ave., Monroe St.) I'm not sure of the extent of this debt, but I do know they plan on taking out more OPWC loans in the near future.
Here is the surprising part: these loans were secured by the county at a time when the county was obligated to provide road work on certain county roads in the township. But if we merge and become a city, we have already been told that the county will stop paying on these loans and the new city will have to pay them off.
This debt was incurred by the county, at a time when the county was receiving various tax revenues from township sources (gas tax, etc.) that pays for the infrastructure projects. But since the roads become the new city's responsibility after merger, the county cuts lose not only maintenance of the road, but the past debt they incurred to do that maintenance. This information was not taken in to consideration when the University of Toledo did their study.
