Township Reponsibilites

TOWNSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES

State law authorizes Ohio townships to operate under a basic form of government and perform a wide variety of functions. There are 1,308 townships in Ohio and they are varied in population size, annual operating budget, and range of services delivered to residents.

Ohio townships most commonly provide residents with services such as road maintenance, cemetery management, police and fire protection, emergency medical services, solid waste disposal, and zoning. Other functions include economic development, accounting, and finances (taxes, borrowing, grants, special assessments, fees, etc.), public records, land use planning, blight elimination, cable and other franchise management, community centers, building code enforcement, off-road vehicle regulation, street lighting, public information, and youth programs. Ohio townships have direct responsibility for maintaining 41,000 miles of roads and streets, and townships manage more than 2,400 cemeteries.