Mayor Talks about Housing Trends, Business Growth, Traffic Signal Project

Mayor Tom Perciak delivered his annual State of the City address to a packed house at the Ehrnfelt Event Center March 10, talking about Strongsville’s fiscal health and the citywide traffic signalization project that’s now under way.
The mayor also took a look at the city’s housing stock and projects in the business parks that will bolster income tax revenue into the future.
Perciak reminded the crowd that Strongsville is one of only 15 cities in Ohio to merit a Moody’s bond rating of Aaa, which makes the city a desirable place for investors.
“We work hard at this, and we’re proud of it,” he said.
A result of that work is the strength of the city’s four business parks, which continue to grow. CCL Industries, which produces labels, is the latest to expand, purchasing 22 acres of city-owned land on Foltz Parkway to build its North American Headquarters, retaining 250 jobs.
Also expanding is Union Home Mortgage, Perciak said, with the purchase of two adjacent buildings. The company, which now employs 350 people, will create another 450 new jobs here.
The mayor also took a look at Strongsville’s housing stock, noting that the median sale price of homes here has gone from $163,000 in 2011 to $222.500 in 2019, a 26.7 percent increase. He also pointed out that the city’s nearly 4,600 businesses bring in about 19,000 people every day to work in the business parks and retail stores.
“That hasn’t happened by itself,” he said, crediting a business-friendly environment created by his administration and, in particular, Economic Development Director Brent Painter.
As always, the mayor gave a brief overview of the city’s finances, pointing out that 50 percent of the budget is allocated to the safety forces and another 22 percent goes to street maintenance. He also noted that trash disposal takes 5 percent of the budget, and warned that “this is a cost that is continuing to escalate” due to the expense of recycling and of disposing of refuse in landfills.
Perciak also offered an overview of the ongoing citywide traffic signalization project that will install new mast arms for traffic signals and video and radar detection systems that will monitor the flow of traffic and self-adjust for better flow. The mast arms and updated technology will be done this summer, he said, with the full project completed – if all goes well – by next February.