City Accomplishments

Welcome Letter

Dear Community Stakeholder,

In 2020, the City of Maple Heights celebrated the milestone of being released from Fiscal Emergency. As we turned our attention to 2021, we set forth an aggressive agenda of infrastructure improvements, public safety projects, and development. I am proud to report that we accomplished what we set out to do and I am providing the following summary of these accomplishments. There is much for us to be proud of and we look forward to continuing to serve you in 2022. I invite you to check out our City Goals webpage to see what we have in store for 2022 and watch as we work to accomplish these goals.

Sincerely,

Mayor Annette M. Blackwell

Table of Contents

1. Road Repair Program
2. Water and Sewer Line Replacements
3. Financial Health
4. Public Safety
5. Human Services
6. Development Activity
   1. Building Permits
   2. Land Reutilization Program

Road Repair Program

Each year, the City uses local funds and grant funds to invest in the City’s road infrastructure, filling potholes, repairing roads damaged by water main breaks, and resurfacing streets. In total, the City has 162.72 lane miles of roads and in 2021 4.2 lane miles were resurfaced. Between 2016 and 2021, a total of 18.6 lane miles (11.43% of total lane miles) have been resurfaced. Below is the list of streets and lane miles that were resurfaced in 2021. A complete listing of streets and lane miles by year is available on the Road Repair Program webpage.

Water and Sewer Line Replacements

Financial Health

The City’s financial health continues to improve due to strong financial controls and strategic financial planning. The City’s General Fund balance (think of the General Fund as your main checking account that you pay bills from) has continued to increase year after year. This means that the City has money to pay its bills and debts, has a cushion to withstand unplanned events (such as COVID-19), and begin to provide more and better services to the residents. The City received half of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. These are funds that the City will budget to spend in 2022.

All of this work has had many positive impacts on the City, including 1) being released from Fiscal Emergency in 2020; 2) having its Moody’s bond rating upgraded from a B2 to a Ba3; 3) refinancing its debts to pay less interest and save money.

Building Permits

The Department of Building reviews plans and issues permits for alterations, additions, and new construction in the City.

Land Reutilization Program

The City’s Land Reutilization Program (Land Bank) is run by the Department of Economic Development and seeks to return tax delinquent and underperforming land back to tax-producing use. The Land Bank takes in vacant land from tax foreclosure or donations and offers 2 programs to acquire land. The Side Yard Program allows eligible homeowners to purchase the vacant lot next door for $100 to expand their yard and garden or to add onto their home. The Vacant Lot Program allows developers and homeowners to purchase a vacant lot to build a new home or commercial structure, depending on the zoning.

The benefits to residents when they purchase a side yard parcel are numerous, adding to their quality of life and giving their family room to grow. Financially, when neighbors purchase a side yard, their equity in their home increases by $7,000 on average.