Community Profile

Toledo, the county seat of Lucas County, is located in the northwestern part of Ohio. It is part of an area known as the Great Black Swamp. Toledo itself was incorporated in 1836, and it was built on the site of a former stockade, Fort Industry, which was built in 1800. Originally, there were two separate towns named Lawrence and Vistula. When the Wabash and Erie Canal was mapped out in 1836, the location of Toledo was chosen as one of the termination points. The population of the two towns merged and created the new community of Toledo. By 1840, Toledo had a population of 1,322 people.

Although the canal would bring significant business to Toledo, the community still struggled in its early years. Many of its residents suffered from epidemics that spread rapidly in the region in 1838 and 1839. Finally, the canal was opened in 1845. The canal made the town a growing seaport along Lake Erie, and much commerce traveled through Toledo. In addition to the Wabash and Erie Canal, Toledo was connected to the city of Cincinnati by way of the Miami and Erie Canal.

When railroads began to emerge as a key form of transportation in Ohio in the second half of the nineteenth century, Toledo became a destination for a number of railroad lines. In addition, a number of industries began to emerge in the city, including furniture companies, carriage makers, breweries, railroad manufacturing companies, and glass companies, among others. The Libbey Glass Works was located in Toledo and helped to make the community known as the "City of Glass." By 1880, Toledo boasted a population of more than fifty thousand people, making it one of the largest cities in the state.

Many immigrants began to settle in Toledo by the late nineteenth century, attracted to the city because of the factory jobs available and the city's accessibility by rail and by water.

Toledo continued to grow, both in terms of population and industry, in the early twentieth century. Because of its dependence on manufacturing, the city suffered high unemployment rates during the Great Depression. As World War II began, however, Toledo's industries began to focus on wartime production, and unemployment concerns disappeared. Toledo made a unique contribution to the war effort. Home to the Willys-Overland Company, this firm began producing jeeps in 1941.

Toledo is the model Midwestern city with a high quality of life and a low cost of living. Toledo is a proud, vibrant and diverse community that is home to a number of first-class academic institutions, a modern public school system, the internationally recognized Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo Mud Hens, a spectacular zoo, world class parks, premium restaurants, nationally and internationally known products, a reenergized downtown, vibrant neighborhoods, top-rated healthcare systems, and an exemplary public library system.

Toledo has a diverse economy bolstered by three major industries: manufacturing, healthcare and education. The Toledo region is home to the world headquarters of major corporations, including Owens Corning, Dana Incorporated, and The Andersons, Inc. Other major employers include The University of Toledo and Medical Center, FCA USA LLC, General Motors Corp./GM Powertrain, ProMedica Health Systems (ProMedica), Mercy Health, and Toledo City School District. With several major financial institutions, Toledo is also the banking and finance center for northwest Ohio. In the Toledo Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) employment has become increasingly diversified.

Employment remained steady in Toledo from 2017 until 2019. In early 2020, unemployment in Toledo, as in much of the nation, increaed substantially. This was driven mostly by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since mid-2020 unemplyment rates have improved.

Manufacturing comprises approximately one-fifth of Toledo's economic base. Hundreds of manufacturing facilities are located in the Toledo metropolitan area. This includes automotive assembly and parts production plants as well as glass and solar panel production facilities.

Stellantis

Stellantis N.V. (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), the largest manufacturing employer in the City, has continued to invest in its Toledo Assembly Complex in the City in recent years, including approximately $1.0 billion of investments since 2016. In January, 2021, Fiat Chrysler completed a merger with PSA, the manufacturer of Peugeot automobiles. The resulting corporation, the world’s fourth largest auto group, is now known as Stellantis N.V. (Stellantis). In April, 2021, Stellantis acquired from the City 40 acres of vacant land adjacent to the Toledo Assembly Complex upon which it has announced plans to construct a 250,000 square foot vehicle customization facility. Stellantis plans to invest $23 million in that facility that is to be operated by a supplier employing approximated 300 workers.

General Motors

General Motors has completed three new investments in its GM Powertrain Division’s Alexis Road transmission plant in the City in the past seven years - a $667.6 million investment in a 650,000-square-foot addition to prepare the plant for production of 9-speed front-wheel-drive and 10-speed rear-wheel-drive transmissions, a $55.7 million investment to support production of fuel-efficient eight-speed transmissions and six-speed rear-wheel-drive transmissions, and a $30.6 million investment for equipment and tooling to expand capacity for the production of the six-speed rear-wheel drive transmissions –to accommodate General Motors’ product growth and meet increasing demand for those transmissions. With those investments and others, General Motors reports having invested more than $1.0 billion in the plant since 2011. In September 2022, General Motors announced it would invest $760 million in its Alexis Road transmission plant to enable production of electric vehicle (EV) propulsion systems. The name of the plant has been changed to “Toledo Propulsion Systems”, with renovations expected to begin in 4Q 2022.

Dana Incorporated

Dana Incorporated, a designer and manufacturer of power-conveyance and energy-management solutions for vehicles and machinery with sales of $7.1 billion in 2020, currently employs approximately 38,200 workers in 33 countries worldwide, including approximately 1,100 in the Toledo MSA. Dana has been a Fortune 500® company for 66 consecutive years. In 2017, Dana completed a $70 million axle manufacturing facility in the Overland Industrial Park in the City and began assembling axles. Dana now employs approximately 300 workers at that facility.

First Solar Manufacturing Facilities

In October 2019, First Solar, Inc., the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic modules, completed construction and began operation a new $400 million, one million square-foot manufacturing facility for production of its advanced technology Series 6 thin-film photovoltaic modules. First Solar has a workforce of approximately 500 associates, with an estimated annual payroll of $30 million, at the new facility which is located in nearby Lake Township. The new facility is a few miles from First Solar’s flagship factory in the City of Perrysburg, which is adjacent to the City. In 2017, First Solar invested an additional $175 million to retool that factory, which is the largest solar manufacturing facility in the United States.In August 2022, First Solar, Inc. announced a plan to spend an additional $185 million to increase production capacity at its facilities in the City of Perrysburg and Lake Township. In August 2021, First Solar, Inc. commenced construction of a second photovoltaic solar manufacturing plant in Lake Township. That new 1.8 million square foot facility represents a $680 million investment and is expected to commence operations in the first half of 2023 and to attain full production capacity 2025. When completed and in full operation, it is projected to provide direct employment for at least 500 new workers.

Residents of Toledo are served by ProMedica Health System and Mercy Health and University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC) as well as several community health centers. Mercy Health has three hospitals in Toledo, including a state-of-the-art pediatric hospital. Promedica has three hospitals across the Toledo, including Toledo Hospital, Toledo Children’s Hospital, and Wildwood Orthopedic and Spine Hospital. Healthcare has emerged as one of the strongest industries in Toledo. The healthcare industry has grown with the expansion of ProMedica Health System and Mercy Health, the two largest providers in northwest Ohio. Both of these systems have aggressively expanded and improved their facilities and property holdings within the City in the past decade.

Mercy Health

Mercy Health is the second largest employer in the Toledo area. Mercy Health is a part of the Bon Secours Mercy Health System, the fifth largest Catholic health ministry and one of the 20 largest health care systems in the United States.

In October 2017, Mercy Health completed construction of a $34 million project to expand facilities on the Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center and Mercy Children’s Hospital campus in the Downtown area of the City. The new 29,000-square-foot, two-story building houses St. Vincent’s and Mercy Children’s emergency services, including a level 1 trauma center and an expanded surgical area with more space for pre-operative and post-operative care.

ProMedica Health System

Promedica Health System is one of the largest employers in the Toledo area and has been an active participant in development activities in the City. ProMedica is a nonprofit health care system with hospitals, urgent care, labs and senior care facilities in Ohio and Michigan.

In 2017 ProMedica completed a more than $50 million renovation of the Steam Plant and Promenade Park for ProMedica Health System’s Headquarters in the Downtown area of the City.

In July 2019, ProMedica completed and opened Generations Tower at Toledo Hospital, a $400 million facility with 309 private patient rooms (some of which are replacing double rooms in other parts of its Toledo and Children’s hospitals) on nine floors and an additional four floors that that may be developed as demand requires, on a campus that also includes its similarly-sized Renaissance Tower that opened in 2008.

Currently, Promedica is working on several other community projects. Continental Development, working with ProMedica, is planning a $50 million development near the campus of Toledo Hospital. The project is expected to include upscale apartments, senior living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities, medical office buildings and facilities and an extended stay hotel. The City has provided certain infrastructure improvements, including an interchange on Interstate 475 in the area of the Hospital campus, which will support the project and additional development by ProMedica. The City has also established a community reinvestment area to provide a tax incentive for the project.

In February 2021, Bitwise, a Fresno, Calif.-based software developer, high-tech academy and workspace host company, announced its plan to purchase, renovate and locate in the Jefferson Center, Toledo’s historic former post office built in 1911 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 as the Old Central Post Office. Bitwise expects to create 378 jobs and, in partnership with ProMedica Health Systems, to invest $35 million in the project.

University of Toledo Medical Center

In addition to ProMedica Health Systems and Mercy Health Partners, Toledo is home to the University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC). The UT Medical Center at the Health Science campus is educating the next generation of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals.

Toledo City Schools

The Toledo City School District is the principal school system in the City and the fourth largest school system in the State. It serves approximately 22,053 pupils in 52 elementary, junior high and senior high schools and specialized learning centers. The Board of Education of the School District administers an annual operating budget of approximately $343,413million. The Board currently receives approximately 38.27% of its funding from local sources, including taxes, tuition, fees and interest income, approximately 60.90% of its funding from State sources and approximately 0.83% of its funding from federal sources

University of Toledo

The University of Toledo is a State university located in the City that traces its origins to 1872.The Ohio Department of Higher Education reported that for the Fall Term of 2021 the University had a total full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment of 17,070, consisting of 13,185 FTE undergraduate students and 3,885 FTE graduate and professional students, making it the seventh largest of 14 public universities in the State. The University most recently reported that, together with its Medical Center, it has more than5,400 employees, including more than 1,500 instructional faculty and more than 3,900 other staff members In its fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, the University and its Medical Center reported operating revenues of$754.8 million, including net patient service and other patient services revenue of $381.4 million, net tuition and fees of $187.8 million, grants, gifts and contract revenues of $53.7 million and $131.9 million of auxiliary and other revenues. The University’s 13 colleges attract students from a broad region with a selection of approximately 5,000 course offerings in more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.

Mercy College

Mercy College of Ohio, a private institution of higher learning with a focus on healthcare education, has its main campus in the City where approximately 1,331 students were enrolled in Fall 2021.

The City of Toledo is served by a broad-based transportation system, including well-developed ground, air and water transportation facilities.

Ohio Turnpike

The Ohio Turnpike (Interstate Highway 80/90) and Interstate Highways 75, 280 and 475, complemented by six State routes and five U.S. highways, provide the City with direct east-west interstate highway access to such cities as Cleveland, Chicago, Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. and direct north-south access to such cities as Detroit, Cincinnati and Atlanta.

TARTA

The Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA), a separate political subdivision, provides local bus service in the City and surrounding areas. TARTA is funded in part by property taxes levied on the entire service area, now comprised of the City and five surrounding municipalities and one township, which in recent years has provided approximately $12.8 million for operation and improvement of the system. In December 2021, TARTA’s board of trustees voted to amend the authority’s charter to add the County as a new member jurisdiction after voters approved a one-half percent (0.5%) sales tax for TARTA that is to be collected in the County and the adjacent City of Rossford, the only current TARTA member that isn’t in the County. Collection of that sales tax, which is estimated to generate approximately$30 million annually, began in 2022. TARTA is in the midst of planning a system-wide service revision to expand operations to include all of the County and the City of Rossford. TARTA’s 2022 budget projects $12.5 million in sales tax revenue plus $13.2 million from property taxes, which the agency will receive in 2022. The property taxes for TARTA will be eliminated after collection year 2022.

Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport

Commercial airline traffic is provided through the City’s Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport. Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport is a regional airport located approximately 15 miles southwest of the City, and Detroit Metropolitan Airport is located approximately 45 miles north of the City. The City is also served by two smaller, general aviation airports, including the City’s Toledo Executive Airport (formerly known as Metcalf Field), which is located approximately five miles south of the City. The City’s two airports, Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport and Toledo Executive Airport, are both leased to the Port Authority.

Development activity is occurring across Toledo. Toledo has a strong future for Economic Development based on bringing jobs and investment to downtown, increased development in neighborhoods, continuing investment in necessary infrastructure to add to and maintain jobs, and leveraging City assets including infrastructure, location, transportation, labor force quality and availability.

Major Development Projects:

The City operates under and is governed by its Charter, which was first adopted by the voters in 1914 and has been and may be amended by the voters from time to time. The City is also subject to certain general State laws applicable to all cities. Under the Ohio Constitution, the City may exercise all powers of local self-government, and police powers to the extent not in conflict with applicable, general laws.

Legislative authority in the City is vested in a 12-member Council. Six members of the Council are elected at-large and six from districts within the City, all for overlapping four-year terms. The Council is authorized to enact ordinances and resolutions relating to City services, tax levies, appropriating and borrowing money, licensing and regulating businesses and trades and other municipal activities. The Council also has authority to fix the compensation of City officers and employees. The Council annually elects one of its members to serve as the President of Council, its presiding officer.

The City’s chief executive and administrative officer is the Mayor, who is elected by the voters to that office for a four-year term. The Mayor has authority to hire certain assistants and, subject to Council approval, to appoint the directors of all City departments, the commissioners of all City divisions, the members of all City boards and commissions and, with the additional approval of the applicable board or commission, the chief administrative officers of agencies under their jurisdiction. The Mayor is responsible for preparing a detailed annual budget estimate, keeping the Council advised of the financial condition and needs of the City and, generally, exercising all other executive and administrative powers and performing such duties as are conferred by the Charter or by State law on mayors or municipal chief executive officers.

The Mayor has authority to introduce ordinances, resolutions and other matters before the Council, to take part in the discussion of all matters coming before the Council, to vote on legislation before the Council if necessary to break a tie vote and to veto any legislation passed by the Council. Vetoes may be overridden by a three-fourths vote of all members of the Council.

The City of Toledo provides police and fire (which includes emergency medical services).

Police

The Toledo Police Department services the City of Toledo from two main District Stations and two substations. The Department consists of three major Divisions: Support and Administrative services, Operations, and Investigative Services. The Toledo Police Department is responsible for providing services ranging from criminal investigations to community engagement.

Fire

The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department is comprised of several bureaus and one unit, which operate out of eighteen fire stations strategically located through the city of Toledo. The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department responds to all fire and medical incidents in the city. The medical response also includes both basic and advanced transport to local hospitals. All Toledo firefighters are State of Ohio certified as Firefighter II and trained as Emergency Medical Technician-Basic.

Water System

The City owns and operates a waterworks system as a self-supporting enterprise that in 2021 produced an average of 64.7 million gallons of potable water per day, with a peak flow of 97.8 million gallons per day. Water is drawn from Lake Erie, treated at the City’s Collins Park Water Treatment Plant, which has capacity to treat up to 130 million gallons of water per day, and then distributed through approximately 1,165 miles of water lines, over 50% of which were installed before 1930. The estimated replacement cost of the Water System is $1.362 billion.

The Water System is operated by the Divisions of Water Treatment and Water Distribution within the City’s Department of Public Utilities.

The Water System is a regional utility that provides water service for approximately 130,300 residential, commercial/institutional and industrial customers in the City and certain surrounding areas in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. The City estimates that approximately 500,000 people are served by the Water System.

Sewer System

The City owns and operates a sanitary sewage collection and treatment system (the Sewer System) as a self-supporting enterprise that in 2021 collected and treated approximately 59.6 million gallons of wastewater per day generated by residential, commercial, institutional and industrial users. Wastewater is collected by 1,061 miles of local and interceptor sanitary sewers owned by the City. The local sewers serving 74% of the City’s sewered area carry only sanitary sewage, while the remaining 26% of the City’s sewered area is served by combined local sewers that carry sanitary sewage and, in wet weather, storm water. The local sewers flow into interceptor sewers that carry the wastewater to the City’s Bay View Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) for treatment. The WWTP is unusual in that it includes a traditional plant providing secondary treatment and a wet weather treatment facility (WWTF) providing the equivalent of primary treatment.

The Sewer System collects and treats wastewater flows from approximately 99,000 residential, commercial/institutional and industrial users in the City, and approximately 6,200 users outside the City. It is the sole provider of such service in the City and serves an estimated 270,000 persons.