05/27/2026
Dear Lucas Residents,
I come to you today with an important announcement regarding our village. On Monday June 1st the meeting of Lucas Village Council will be held at the Lucas Community Center. The main purpose of the meeting will be a presentation regarding the establishment of a 1% income tax in the Village of Lucas for anyone that lives and/or works in the village. Legislation is being considered where if passed by council a tax would be implemented for the purpose of creating an additional revenue stream for the village as we are currently faced with some serious financial challenges regarding village infrastructure, and would impact earned income only. Meaning it won’t impact Social Security benefits, 401k retirement plans, military pay or allowances, child support or spousal support, SNAP or TANF benefits, and it will not impact anyone under 18 years of age. The village is being mandated by the EPA to construct a new water treatment facility at the cost of $3 million, our streets need to be cared for with a more regular paving schedule, and updates to aging electrical, and waste-water systems are also necessary in the near future. Mayor, Council, and Village Administration are doing everything possible to minimize spending as we are in the process of switching our street lights from what we currently use to LED lighting. By doing this, we will be able to reduce the number of operational lights we are currently utilizing which will save the village approximately $30,000 a year in electrical costs. We have eliminated nearly all overtime worked by our hourly employees, and recently back filled an employee vacancy with a part time laborer as opposed to hiring a full time person. We are also looking at a rate study that would eliminate the cost adjuster on our electric bills and base your electrical costs solely on kilowatt usage. The village currently operates on minimal revenue streams with the largest being what we get from utility payments, and we have continued to operate under the same electric rates since the last increase being in 1998. We also receive a little over $7,400 annually from the county for our share of permissive sales tax which is based on road mileage within the village, small distributions of state highway and gasoline tax, royalties twice a year as the new communication tower on Union St. is on village property, a very small percentage of money from property tax, as well as a small amount of money generated from local traffic tickets/code infractions, and municipal permits. We have also applied for grant dollars to assist with the cost of making improvements, but as of now have not been awarded any grant money. Based on income projections, the tax will generate an additional $60,000 - $70,000 annually for the village. It will also be managed “in house” which will also be a savings to the village rather than going through RITA (Regional Income Tax Agency). And I can assure each of you that we have not only become more frugal with necessary spending, but money spent for improvements has been, and will continue to be spent wisely. Our new administration has done a great job thus far managing our budget and will continue to do so, as well as continuing to run our day to day operations with complete and total transparency. Lucas is one of only two municipalities in Richland County that does not have an income tax. The other being Shiloh. It is also one of approximately 30 in the entire State of Ohio without a tax. We realize that a tax is not something anyone wants to be faced with, but we haven’t taken this consideration lightly. It has been in discussion over the course of the last several years. We see this as a critical component to the future of our village. It will help us make necessary improvements to the place we call home, and is a long term investment in our community. If you have questions or concerns, please join us at the LCC on Monday June 1st for our presentation.
Kind Regards,
Mayor Hall
