The inhabitants of the City of Toledo, as its limits at the time of the adoption of this Charter are, or hereafter may be defined, shall be a body politic and corporate by name of the City of Toledo, and as such shall have perpetual succession and the following rights and powers:
(a) To use a corporate seal.
(b) To sue and be sued.
(c) To acquire property in fee simple or a lesser interest or estate therein by purchase, gift, devise, bequest, appropriation, lease or lease with privilege to purchase.
(d) To sell, lease, hold, manage and control such property, and make all rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution which may be required to carry out fully the provisions of any conveyance, deed or will, in relation to any gift or bequest, or the provisions of any lease by which the City may acquire property.
(e) To acquire, construct, own, lease and operate, within or without its corporate limits, any public utility, the product or service of which is, or is to be supplied by the City or its inhabitants, and to contract with others for such product or service. The acquisition of any such public utility may be by condemnation or otherwise, and the City may acquire thereby the use of, or full title to, the property and franchise of any company or person supplying to the City or its inhabitants the service or product of any such utility.
The City owning or operating a public utility for the purpose of supplying the service or product thereof to the City or its inhabitants, may also sell and deliver to others any transportation service of such utility, and the surplus product of any other utility in an amount not exceeding in either case fifty percent of the total service or product supplied by such utility within the City, provided that such fifty percent limitation shall not apply to the sale of water or sewage services.
The City shall also have power to regulate public utilities under private ownership.
In proceedings to acquire, construct, own, lease or operate a public utility, or to contract with any person or company therefor or the product or service thereof, or to sell and deliver to others any transportation service of such utility or the surplus product of any other utility, the City shall act by ordinance, and the provisions of Section 226 of this Charter shall not apply to any proceedings or contract authorized under this subdivision.
(Amended by electors 11-8-60)
(f) To assess, levy and collect taxes on all property which the City may lawfully tax for general or special purposes including taxes for the purchase, lease, equipment, maintenance and operation of public playgrounds, gymnasiums, swimming pools and other recreation facilities which tend to the upbuilding of a sturdier citizenship, and taxes for the purpose of acquiring, constructing or extending any public utility or means of transportation, the product or service of which is or is to be supplied to the City or its inhabitants.
(Amended by electors 11-4-19)
(g) To borrow money on the faith and credit of the City by the issue and sale of bonds or notes of the City; but no such obligation shall be sold by the City for less than par value and accrued interest.
(h) To appropriate the money of the City for all lawful purposes.
(i) To create, provide for, purchase, construct, maintain and regulate all things in the nature of public works, buildings, improvements, means and facilities for transportation or communication, or the furnishing of light, heat and power.
(Amended by electors 11-4-19)
(j) To levy and collect assessments for local improvements.
(k) To license and regulate persons, corporations, and associations engaged in any lawful business, occupation, profession or trade.
(l) To supervise, regulate or suppress, in the interest of public morals, public recreations, amusements and entertainments, and to define, prohibit, abate or suppress all things detrimental to the health, morals, comfort, safety, convenience, and welfare of the people, and all nuisances and causes thereof.
(m) To pass such ordinances as are expedient for maintaining and promoting the peace, good government and welfare of the City, and the morals and happiness of its citizens, and for the performance of all municipal functions, including provisions for the care and civic instruction of immigrants.
(n) To provide for the destruction of noxious weeds, and for the payment of the expense thereof by assessment or otherwise.
(o) To regulate the erection of fences, billboards, signs, and other structures, and provide for the removal or repair of insecure billboards, signs and other structures.
(p) To regulate and control the use for whatever purposes of the streets and other public places.
(q) To create, establish, organize and abolish offices, and fix the salaries and compensation of all officers and employees.
(r) To make and enforce local police, sanitary and other regulations.
(s) The total tax rate which may be levied without a vote of the people for the current operating expenses of the City of Toledo upon the tax list and duplicate of property assessed and listed for taxation according to value for the tax year 1969 and each year thereafter shall not exceed 4.445 mills per dollar of assessed valuation, provided that said 4.445 mills shall be reduced in each year by that number of mills, including fractional parts thereof, which is levied in the respective year by the City within the ten mill limitation imposed by Article XII, Section 2, of the Ohio Constitution, for the purpose of paying interest on and principal of obligations issued without a vote of the people.
The City shall be able to levy for current operating expenses in any year as much as 4.445 mills per dollar of assessed valuation without a vote of the electors, even though a part of the territorial limits of the City are not within the territorial limits of the Toledo City School District, since said 4.445 mills is outside of the ten mill limitation imposed by Article XII, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution.
The limitation of this section of the Charter upon the power of Council to levy general property taxes shall not operate as a limitation upon the power of Council to levy taxes upon such other subjects and for such other purposes as may be lawful under the Constitution and laws of the State of Ohio, nor shall this section be deemed to be a limitation upon the power of Council to incur indebtedness for all lawful purposes within applicable constitutional and statutory limitations.
(Amended by electors 9-9-69)
(u) Provisions of the preceding subsections (s) and (t) of this section of the Charter of the City of Toledo, to the contrary notwithstanding, the total tax rate which may be levied without a vote of the people for all purposes of the City of Toledo, its boards, departments, and institutions, upon the duplicate of property in the City listed and assessed for taxation according to value, shall not in any one year exceed 6.445 mills or in the event of the approval of subsection (t) by the electors, shall not in any one year exceed 7.445 mills per dollar of assessed valuation. Out of said total maximum levy, as the case may be, two (2) mills may be levied for the purposes of the University of the City of Toledo, and at the request of the Board of Directors of said University all or any part of said rate shall be levied for capital improvements and costs of operation. The purpose of said additional two (2) mills per dollar of assessed valuation for the University of the City of Toledo is to authorize such levy beyond the ten (10) mill constitutional and statutory limitations, without a vote of the electors, and the proceeds of such additional two (2) mill levy shall be used for no other purpose.
By the adoption of this amendment all improvements referred to herein and to be paid for in whole or in part from the proceeds of any such levy in excess of 4.445 mills shall be deemed to be approved under the provisions of Section 79 of this Charter and no other or further approval shall be required.
The limitation of this subsection of the Charter upon the powers of Council to levy property taxes shall not operate as a limitation upon the power of Council to levy taxes upon such other subjects and for such other purposes as may be lawful under the Constitution and laws of the State of Ohio, nor shall this subsection be deemed to be a limitation upon the power of Council to incur indebtedness for such improvements and all other lawful purposes within constitutional and statutory limitations.
(Amended by electors 10-6-59)
(a) In the event of the effective continued conversion of the municipal University to a State University by assumption of the educational functions of the municipal University by such State University and transfer or grant of use of substantially all of the assets of the municipal University to such State University pursuant to Sections 3349.27 et seq. of the Revised Code of Ohio, and any amendments thereof and supplemental provisions of law pertaining thereto, the Board of Directors referred to in Section 8(u) of this Charter shall continue to exist for the limited purposes set forth below and members thereof shall be appointed and vacancies filled as provided in the general laws of Ohio for boards of directors of municipal universities, but the power and duties of said Board of Directors shall be limited to those necessary or appropriate to winding up the operations of the municipal University, including the delivery of instruments of further assurance and the taking of any other actions for the final completion of such conversion, and to providing for the proper application of assets retained, if any, and requesting, receiving and distributing funds to become available under subsection (c) of this section, and toward such ends the Board of Directors may exercise those powers and duties provided for in any agreement pertaining to such conversion and in this Charter and the laws and duties, and subject to the receipt by the Council of the written declaration of the Board of Trustees of such State University that no further action will be required of said Board of Directors under any such agreement, the Council of the City may by ordinance dissolve the Board of Directors of the municipal University.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Charter or ordinances and resolutions of the Council, the transfer or grant of use to a State University of all or any part of the estate, property and funds under the control of the Board of Directors of the municipal University or otherwise held for the use or benefit of or in connection with the conduct of the municipal University, whether held in trust or otherwise, may be accomplished in the manner provided in Revised Code Sections 3349.27 et seq. and any agreement entered into pursuant thereto, and any deeds, conveyances, assignments and other instruments shall be executed on behalf of such Board of Directors and the City by such person or persons as shall be authorized by the Board of Directors whether such property be held in the name of the Board of Directors, the municipal University, or the City of Toledo.
(c) If on or before July 15, 1967 the educational functions of the municipal University are assumed by, and the transfer or grant of use of substantially all of its assets is made to, a State University pursuant to the provisions of Sections 3349.27 et seq., of the Revised Code of Ohio, so long as such assumption and such transfer or grant continue in effect, the additional two (2) mill levy provided for by Section 8(u) of this Charter shall not be levied on the tax duplicate for 1968 or for any subsequent year, provided that so long as any general obligation bonds of the City heretofore issued for the benefit of the municipal University shall remain outstanding the tax provided for in Section 8(u) shall be levied solely for the purpose of paying the principal and interest, thereon but only if and to the extent that other funds provided to the City for such purpose or otherwise available and appropriated therefor are not sufficient for such payments, and any proceeds of such tax levied on the 1966 and 1967 tax duplicates and distributed after July 1, 1967 shall, to the extent not required for such bonds, be distributed to the Board of Directors of the municipal University and shall be made available by the Board of Directors to pay any operating deficit of the University as of July, 1, 1967 and for paying costs of land and facilities of said State University in the City of Toledo acquired or constructed by the municipal University before July 1, 1967, or acquired and constructed by the State University after July 1, 1967 and approved by the Board of Directors, including repaying moneys borrowed, advanced, or made available from other funds therefor and paying any interest thereon. As used in this subsection, the tax duplicate for a given year means the general tax list and duplicate on the basis of which ad valorem taxes are levied in such year for distribution in the next year.
(Added by electors 5-3-66)
The City shall have the power to appropriate any property within or without its corporate limits, for any purpose for which such property may be lawfully appropriated by a City which has adopted a charter for its government.
When it is deemed necessary to appropriate property, the Council shall adopt a resolution declaring such intent, defining the purpose of the appropriation, setting forth a pertinent description of the property, and the estate or interest therein desired to be appropriated.
Immediately upon the adoption of such resolution, for which but one reading shall be necessary, and regardless of its approval by the Mayor, the Mayor shall cause written notice thereof to be given to the owner of, person in possession of, or having an interest of record in, every piece of land, or his or her authorized agent, and to the owner of, person in possession of, or person having an interest of record in, the public utility sought to be appropriated, or his or her authorized agent, and such notice shall be served by a person designated for the purpose, and return made in the manner provided by law for the service and return of summons in civil actions. If such owner, person, or agent, cannot be found, notice shall be given by publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the City, and the Council may thereafter pass an ordinance directing such appropriation to proceed.
Forthwith after the effective date of such ordinance the Director of Law shall make application to a court of competent jurisdiction or to a judge thereof in vacation which shall describe as correctly as possible the land or other property to be appropriated, the interest or estate therein to be taken, the object proposed, the name of the owner of each parcel of land or of the utility sought to be appropriated and of each person having possession thereof or an interest of record therein.
All subsequent proceedings with regard thereto shall be in the manner provided by general laws for the appropriation of property by municipal corporation in this State.
(Amended by electors 11-7-00)
The enumeration of particular powers by this Charter shall not be held or deemed to be exclusive; but in addition to the powers enumerated or implied therein or appropriate to the exercise thereof, the City of Toledo shall have and may exercise all other powers which under the Constitution and laws of Ohio now are, or hereafter may be, granted in cities. Powers proper to be exercised and not specially enumerated herein, shall be exercised and enforced in the manner prescribed by this Charter; or, when not prescribed herein, in such manner as shall be provided by ordinance or resolution of the Council, or by statute.