BOARDMAN — Township trustees reminded residents Monday that the township works to ensure safe, paved roads for all of its residents, — regardless of what tax bracket they’re in.

Resident Tom Guerrieri asked the board of trustees why a section of the entrance to the Ivy Hills condominium development, off of Ivy Hill Drive, has not been paved despite the thousands of dollars in property taxes its residents have paid.

“The road is deplorable; there’s money to do these other roads, there’s got to be the monies to do the two-tenths of a mile,” Guerrieri said, addressing the board during its regular meeting. “We paid for it many times in our property taxes over the last 25 years.”

Guerrieri said the entrance has been patched multiple times, but that won’t be enough to fix it.

Trustee Larry Moliterno said he has seen the road in question, and he agrees that it needs work, but the road joins a long list of streets in need of paving.

“The 40,000 people that live in Boardman Township all deserve to have their roads paved equally; regardless of their income, or how much taxes they pay,” Moliterno said in response to Guerrieri’s statement.

Moliterno added that the township hired a company to assess the roads and determine what needs to be paved, and when the township receives funding it will decide what roads to do based on the findings.

“We believe it is the wisest thing to do for the entirety of Boardman Township, not just in communities where wealthy people live,” Moliterno said.

Guerrieri said that roads that have fewer homes, such as Palestine Avenue, have been paved, but road department Superintendent Marilyn Kenner said the township had to pick roads that have high daily traffic in order to use state funding. Palestine Avenue had an average of 2,046 cars, including school buses, while Ivy Hill Drive had 516.

She added that hiring an outside source to conduct the study is a wise move when the township has 144 miles of road, 100 of which she estimates needs to be paved.

“I know the road needs to be done, there are so many roads that need to be done, but we have to pick the roads that have the highest volume of traffic,” Kenner said. “We know that Ivy Hill is in bad condition, but that is not the only road in the township that needs done.”

Kenner said that the decision of what roads to pave is even more important with the cost of paving now at $120,000 a mile and rising. She said grants are highly competitive, and she hopes the incoming funds from the sales tax will be enough to alleviate some of the need.

Guerrieri said he doesn’t understand why factors such as traffic average can be considered but not how much residents pay in property taxes, and a resident who pays $10,000 in property taxes should not have roads in “deplorable conditions.”

Kenner said that she can’t go by that factor, as it’s not fair to the majority of the township.

“I can’t go by that, it’s not fair to say, ‘I’m only going to pave the roads where rich people live.’ That’s not fair,” Kenner said.

In other business, trustees:

• Authorized Attorney David C. Comstock Jr. and Bonezzi Switzer Polito and Hupp Co. LPA law firm for litigation in relation to fire code enforcement not to exceed $5,000;

• Adopted a resolution to participate in the Ohio Department of Transportation winter contract to purchase 1,000 tons of salt;

• Approved liquor permits for the Fire Fox Cafe, Roxbury Pizza and Combine Brothers Bar and Grille.

lnickel@tribtoday.com