Catherine Stoker

West Chester Township Trustee Catherine Stoker filed petitions to seek re-election on Friday August 14, 2009. Stoker was first elected as trustee of Ohio’s largest Township in 1993. Voters have widely supported her re-election to four-year terms in 1997, 2001 and 2005. She currently serves as president of the West Chester Township Trustees.

Stoker first came to public attention in the early 1990s as a vocal member of the environmental group CLEAN, which expressed critical concern over the operation of an infectious medical waste incinerator in the township. After five years of intense controversy, an employee of the incinerator admitted that the operator was systematically violating a number of environmental laws. The incinerator was closed, eliminating thousands of pounds of lead, mercury, dioxins, and other noxious emissions.

Stoker then became involved in tax reduction in 1995; filing suit against the Transportation Improvement District (TID) for levying what she felt was an illegal annual $20 license plate tax. The TID dropped the tax, saving West Chester vehicle owners between $1.3 million and $2 million every year since then. Since her actions of 1995, West Chester vehicle owners have saved more than $20 million that they would have otherwise paid had she not challenged the legality of the tax (see table of tax savings below).

Stoker continued her anti-tax stance in 2002 when she spearheaded a referendum petition stopping the County Commissioners from increasing local county sales taxes. When the commissioners saw that Stoker’s team of volunteers had collected more than 26,000 signatures, they rescinded the planned tax increase, saving tax payers more than $70 million. Years later, the commissioners increased the sales tax to pay for the new 800 MHz system.

More recently, Stoker has concentrated on helping West Chester operate a highly efficient government, which has been able to weather the current recession with apparent ease.

“Running an efficient township government, and preserving the safety of families and property will forever remain my most important priorities,” said Stoker when she filed her petitions for re-election. “Also important are maintaining and improving township roads and encouraging the continued growth of good quality jobs and businesses which help subsidize the cost of our essential services and schools.”

Stoker noted that the carefully planned commercial development of West Chester has taken a significant amount of the tax burden off families. In 1994 when she began her public service as trustee, residents paid about 75 percent of township property taxes. Today, commercial property owners pay more than 50 percent of property taxes collected in the township.

When not working for her business, Brite Belt Technologies, or working as a trustee, Mrs. Stoker enjoys working as a volunteer, primarily to raise money for essential services for local seniors and veterans. She serves as the Wednesday morning volunteer dispatcher for the township’s free Senior Van Service.

Mrs. Stoker is one of the founding board members of the not-for-profit Heroes Fund at the West Chester Community Foundation, which provides one time only financial support for combat veterans or their families in need.

Mrs. Stoker was one of the original volunteers working for RASKALS (Random Acts of Kindness Affecting Local Seniors). She also helps the local VFW Auxiliary raise funds for local combat veterans and their families.

Over the years, residents have widely supported re-election efforts of Stoker, who received more votes than any of the many candidates seeking the office of West Chester Township trustee in 2005 and 2001.

Stoker is a 22-year resident of West Chester where she and her husband Michael have operated a successful computer software business. Their son David is a graduate of St. Xavier and the Ohio State University, earning his PhD in Physics at the University of Texas at Austin.