Westlake Mayor Dennis M. Clough delivered his 2022 Westlake State of the City Address on March 22 at Carrabba's Italian Grill. The West Shore Chamber of Commerce sponsored the event, which was recorded and is available for video-on-demand (VOD) viewing via the City's Community Access Channel on any web browser and on multiple streaming devices (Roku, FireTV and AppleTV).
Cable subscribers will have two opportunities to tune in to watch the event footage each day at Noon and 6 p.m. through at least the end of May on the following channels:
- AT&T: Channel 99
- Time Warner: Channel 20
- WOW: Channel 21
Mayor Clough highlighted the fact that, since 1986, the City continues to maintain a General Fund balance far exceeding its debt, meaning the City effectively has no debt. He also noted that the City has retained its AAA Bond Rating over the past 20 years, along with a myriad of other financial awards and distinctions from the State of Ohio and various financial organizations.
"We do stretch that dollar," Mayor Clough said, referencing a slide image of a dollar bill divided up to show how the City's property tax money is distributed, followed by a graph showing that Westlake's residential and commercial tax rates are much lower than other comparable municipalities in Northeast Ohio. "Our values might be higher than some cities, but the rate at which you're taxed is much lower."
The Mayor also touched on the $16 million in planned infrastructure improvements for 2022, including improvements to the Columbia Road/I-90 interchange and maintenance and rehabilitation work on the City's storm sewers, roadways and sidewalks.
A PDF of the 2022 State of the City PowerPoint presentation is available below, as well as by clicking HERE.