Monroe leaders should end costly SunCoke battle

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1:14 PM Friday, February 19, 2010

Monroe City Council spent a couple of hours behind closed doors a few nights ago, apparently discussing the latest developments in the ongoing saga surrounding the planned SunCoke Energy coke-producing facility in Middletown.

Monroe officials aren’t saying much, other than that they are reviewing SunCoke’s second air permit from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency — the one that finally gives the company the green light to start construction — and they don’t plan immediate action.

The big question that no one is answering is: Will the city of Monroe continue its efforts to stop construction of the plant?

In our view, the answer should be no.

Middletown desperately needs the 75 permanent jobs that will be created at the plant — not to mention the 500 temporary construction jobs — to boost its struggling economy. More importantly, AK Steel says it needs the coke the new plant will produce in order to ensure the viability of its Middletown Works, a major employer here.

The question that Monroe taxpayers should be asking is: Why did City Council try to block another city’s economic development efforts? After all, it’s possible — likely, in fact — that some Monroe residents will wind up working at the facility.

Not only have Monroe council members tried to stymie Middletown’s biggest industrial project in years, but they have spent more than $473,000 in taxpayer dollars doing so.

We get it. Monroe, a bedroom community for Middletown during Armco Steel’s heyday, has declared its independence — fighting to establish its own school district 10 years ago and enjoying its own economic development success, thanks to the boom along the Interstate 75 corridor. Monroe leaders and residents are rightfully proud of their growth and success.

But, with nearly a half-million dollars invested so far, all Monroe has succeeded in doing is delaying construction. The recently issued Ohio EPA air permit clears the way for construction to begin on the $360 million plant that a supportive Gov. Ted Strickland calls a “major job creation investment.”

In case Monroe council members haven’t noticed, job creation is the No. 1 priority in the recession-racked nation at the moment. That’s perhaps the only thing that Republicans and Democrats in Washington can agree on.

Interestingly, if SunCoke had proposed building the plant six or seven years ago, Monroe would have been in no position to fight it — because the city experienced a budget meltdown, thanks to reckless overspending and poor financial controls.

It took years — and five tries at the polls — for Monroe officials to build confidence with and to convince voters in February 2006 to raise the city’s income tax rate from 1 to 1.5 percent in order to lift Monroe out of its fiscal emergency. “It’s awesome,” City Manager Bill Brock said at the time. “It means we can do the things we need to do to move forward as a city.”

That “moving forward” apparently included spending some of the $1.7 million — generated annually by the new income tax — to block another town’s efforts to bring in new jobs while making some lawyers rich.

Taxpayers in Monroe should be asking whether that $473,000-plus could have been put to better use — or whether they’re paying too much in taxes — if that much can be spent on such an impractical and imperious cause.

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