Perrysburg council approves emergency budget measures, extends marijuana moratorium, and grants sewer credit

Perrysburg City Council approved several emergency financial measures, extended a moratorium on retail marijuana businesses and unanimously approved a sanitary sewer credit during its April meeting.

The actions included passage of Resolution 39-2025, which authorized a then-and-now payment of $13,565.39; adoption of Ordinance 68-2025 to amend the city’s 2025 annual budget and declare the amendments an emergency; approval of Ordinance 69-2025 to extend the moratorium on permitting retail marijuana dispensaries, cultivators, or processors in the city until Oct. 8, 2025; and a council-approved sanitary sewer credit of $2,169.60 for the residence at 107 Fox Hill Lane after a documented broken pipe.

Councilmembers and staff placed the measures in context during reports from the Finance and Economic Development Committee. Finance Director Amber Rathbrough reported that March 2025 income-tax collections were about 3% higher than March 2024 and that first-quarter collections totaled $6,400,000, up 2.8% year to date. Rathbrough told the committee the city recorded investment income of $777,314.61 in the first quarter and that the health-insurance fund balance at quarter end was about $1,800,000. The committee approved a set of budget adjustments to account for transfers and transactions related to notes issued to finance the River Road building and to reflect costs from road resurfacing and downtown revitalization projects.

Committee members discussed specific line items being moved between accounts, a then-and-now purchase totaling $13,565.39 that will be returned to the city when an insurance claim is paid, and a street-lamp purchase submitted through Planning and Zoning that Finance Director Rathbrough said was paid to Toledo Edison but not charged to the Planning and Zoning budget. Public works staff and committee members also discussed a previously completed traffic study and plans to install a traffic signal at Fort Meigs Road and Cole Court.

During the finance committee meeting the council briefly entered executive session to consider confidential information related to an economic development applicant’s business strategy and returned to open session later that evening. The ordinance amendments related to the River Road financing were described as necessary because the appropriations had not been included in the original 2025 budget while design and construction plans were still being developed.

On the moratorium, Planning & Zoning introduced Ordinance 69-2025 to extend the temporary ban on accepting applications for retail marijuana dispensaries, cultivators, or processors in the city until Oct. 8, 2025, to allow Planning Commission review and time for three readings at council. The council voted to pass the ordinance as an emergency measure; recorded roll-call votes in the hearing included McCarthy (yes), Redick (yes), VanHoozen (yes), Weber (yes), Blostein (yes), Fuller (no), and Coleman (no). The ordinance was declared an emergency and the extension date was set in the motion.

Council also approved Resolution 39-2025, described in committee as an emergency measure to comply with the State of Ohio auditor rules, to authorize the $13,565.39 then-and-now payment (Exhibit A). The council passed Ordinance 68-2025 to make the budget amendments effective immediately; the ordinance text in the meeting record declared the emergency for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2025.

Separately, in a motion introduced during the Public Utilities report, council approved a sanitary sewer credit of $2,169.60 for the property at 107 Fox Hill Lane after staff presented documentation showing a broken pipe in the basement caused water to bypass the sewer system. The motion passed on a roll-call vote.

The council set future committee meeting dates on the record: the next Finance & Economic Development Committee meeting in May and other standing-committee dates were announced. The meeting concluded with routine adjournment.