President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes provided the prayer.
Today’s quote provided by Don Overly: "The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts." Marcus Aurelius (Roman philosopher)
Welcome today’s guests: Vince Carone, guest of David Herman, and Gina Smith’s husband, Aaron.
David Williamson was inducted as the newest member of the Centerville Rotary Club. His sponsor is Boyd Preston, and Mentor is Harvey Smith. David shared he grew up in Miamisburg, and lived in Europe and California for most of his life before moving back to Ohio where he met Boyd & Harvey. He retired early to take care of his parents.
Today’s Announcements:
- Brad Thorp announced the Centerville Rotary Foundation Board members include himself, Harvey Smith, Sofie Ameloot, Ron Hollenbeck, and Kelly McDonald. They will handle both the education and community funds of the Foundation. The Education Foundation is working with the school counselor for this year’s scholarships. The fund has had a 45% rate of return over the last three years, and we have $15,000 to give in scholarships this year.
- Thanks to Uriah Anderson for completing the 2nd Rotary Leadership Institute session.
- Pickleball 4 Good, fundraiser for the Centerville-Washington Foundation, will be at Pickleball Kingdom on Saturday from 3-6 PM.
- Golf Committee met again this morning and were happy to announce that Pella Windows and Doors of Dayton agreed to be our Presenting sponsor at $5,000, and Lytle Grove is a Platinum combo sponsor. Thanks to them both!
- Sofie Ameloot said we are starting to collect items for the Raffle at the Golf Outing. Members are invited to donate tickets to sports or arts events, alcohol, time shares, or anything else you may have to donate!
- Pat Beckel and Sofie met with Ben Lawson, the CHS Interact advisor and students. Brad & Bella Huffman joined, too. He said the kids are excited about volunteering, and also shared about youth exchange opportunities. If you are looking for summer staff, this is a good group of kids.
- Uriah Anderson shared a flyer highlighting the fundraiser for this year’s President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) Rotary for Reading 2026. In partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio, every child born in state of OH receives one book/month for the first 5 years of their life, at no cost to families. Funds need to be raised to cover the $155 per child cost. Can also get bilingual versions. Please consider contributing to this worthy cause.
- Ron Tringali announced the next social is February 10 at Arnie Biondo’s house, 5:30 PM start, Potluck, so bring food to share. Then Raj Grandhi will host the next Potluck on March 17. Check emails for more information and sign up!
Happy Bucks this quarter will be donated to The Food Bank.
Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms with assistance by Brian Hayes.
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat B for the awesome Interact kids.
- Adam M welcomed David and our guests.
- Jake H is heading to the Ohio Parks & Recreation Association Conference where he will be speaking and the Park District will be receiving an award. It is held at Kalahari Resorts, which has an indoor waterpark, so his family will join the fun.
- Mark K welcomed David, is looking forward to the Super Bowl, and he loves the snow.
- Tom Young was happy to be welcomed to our meeting today.
- Carol K was happy for the snow but not frigid temps, and welcomed David.
- Rand O was glad to be back (but not to the cold/snow)
- Sofie A welcomed David, and thanked Tom for offering to donate bourbon for the Golf Outing, and mentioned her neighbor has been outside shoveling in a T-Rex or chicken costume! She also thanked Dale for a nice letter she received.
- Uriah A welcomed David, and he will also be attending the OPRA conference next week, with the Township also receiving an award.
- David W thanked everyone for the warm welcome and is looking forward to being a contributing member.
- Boyd P welcomed David.
- Chuck K welcomed David.
- Socks B gave thanks for Global Warming :-)
- Kristin H welcomed David.
- Lisa GM welcomed David & Vince.
- Bob D was glad to see State Rep Tom Young.
- Ron H welcomed David.
- Dan S welcomed David, and noted a few Buckeyes are playing in the Super Bowl.
- Ron T welcomed David, and is happy to be back from seeing his granddaughter in PA.
- Elda GG welcomed David, and thanked Rand for bringing her guava.
- Harvey S welcomed David, and noted it was good to see Tom.
- Raj G said it was a beautiful week to celebrate, and welcomed David.
- Gina S welcomed David & guests, and said she had a great girls cruise with her cousins to Central America, along with a week in TX.
- Aaron Smith was thankful for his business celebrating 100 years in business (4 generations of ownership), and is proud to be part of this community. He was also thankful for the sun and gorgeous days.
- Dave H for Vince, and completing a night trail marathon with his wife, who said it was a great date but maybe next time dinner & movie would be better.
Today’s speaker was State Representative Tom Young.
Tom said he represents the 37th House District, which has been redistricted three times, but currently includes Centerville, Washington Township, Miami Township, West Carrollton, Moraine, and Jefferson Township. He is Chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Committees and is on the House Finance and Pension committees.
He was honored when first stepping on the House floor, realizing he represents 12 million people and specifically the people in his district. When you pass a resolution, it affects individuals and everyone will not be supportive.
He is concerned about the shortage of workers - engineers, welders, nurses, dentists, and list goes on and wondered “How did we get here?" There is a gap between 18 and 35 year old males: they are not going to school, not working, not getting any training. And some schools are in financial trouble with the possibility of closing.
Tom said the first question businesses ask before coming to Ohio is about the availability of workers. Ohio still has some of the lowest real estate rates in the country, but there are not enough housing units available.
Tom stated the goal of the General Assembly is to get rid of the income tax. Of the $90 billion state budget, 50% is Medicaid. There is a proposal to eliminate property tax but that would stop all property tax revenue immediately, with no solution for how to make up that shortfall. Many local governments receive property taxes as the majority of their income, including schools, Townships, libraries, parks, Human Services, etc.
Every state has a property tax. No one state has eliminated this tax completely. If the constitutional bill passes, it would still be collected in 2026, as the tax is billed in arrears.
Ohio is one of the few states that has so many types of governments. Montgomery County has 98 taxing entities and 99 different soil taxing entities in the CAUV program.
Several years ago, there were discussions about consolidation of local governments, but that had not moved forward. Tom feels some solutions include:
- Raise income tax (legislation won’t do this)
- Raise sales tax (it cannot exceed 8.7%, and we are at 7.5 now) If funded all government needs from the elimination of property tax, the sales tax would have to be increased to 16%.
If the current practice of funding local governments through voter-approved property taxes was eliminated, local control would go away. The State would tell the local governments how to operate.
Tom shared that Inside Millage (non-voted) increases every time property values increase, which he feels is unfair to property owners.
He admitted that property taxes have increased, however, only 12-14% turn out to vote, yet a lot more complain about an increase in taxes. He said not to blame the schools, most increases are by the County and Townships. If you are against a levy, get out and vote against it.
88% levies in OH passed in the last general election. Make sure you educate yourself before voting.
Tom feels the key thing Montgomery County needs to do is to cut inside mileage and give those funds back to the communities. Other counties have. Doing appraisals every three years is too much. Those should be spread farther apart.
President Manning thanked Tom for sharing this valuable information, led reciting the 4-Way Test and wished all a great week.
