Canton has reversed course and will now approve water service requests for homes in Perry Township.
The announcement came one day after 精东影业 reported at least a dozen Perry home sales were in limbo due to the city鈥檚 denial of water service.
Canton denied all residential water service requests in Perry for the last month amid a dispute over a joint economic development district, known as a JEDD, between Canton Mayor Bill Sherer and township trustees.
鈥淭hat said, the JEDD is an economic development agreement, not a residential agreement,鈥� Sherer Wednesday. 鈥淎lthough I have made numerous good-faith attempts to work with the Perry Township Trustees to resolve this issue, I will not allow Perry residents to be caught in the middle.鈥�
About 4,000 township residents receive water service from Canton. Current service was not disrupted, but new requests for service and service transfers were denied after Feb. 5, 2026 due to the dispute.
Canton will resume approving service requests for residential and duplex properties with existing Canton water service lines, starting March 18, Sherer wrote.
However, water service for commercial or industrial properties in Perry will continue to be denied until Sherer and the trustees resolve the dispute, Sherer wrote.
Sherer wants to modify the conditions of the JEDD signed by the Perry trustees and the previous mayor in 2023, particularly its language regarding annexation.
Some Ohio cities and their bordering townships use JEDDs to share tax revenues and other economic development benefits and avoid annexation.
This JEDD agreement gives Canton the majority of income tax revenue 鈥� 2% of 2.5% total 鈥� from a parcel of land on the southeast side of Perry where a data center is planned.
鈥淭he JEDD contract contains no language outlining who is responsible for providing water to the data center, which is a critical component of such agreement,鈥� Sherer wrote in Wednesday鈥檚 letter.
The JEDD also states city can鈥檛 annex other properties in the township without trustees鈥� approval for 50 years.
In the Wednesday statement, Sherer detailed his proposed modifications:
- Annexations would be Type 2 Expedited (which require property owner consent) unless otherwise agreed to, which means that the Township retains all real-time property taxes including school property taxes
- Canton would not pursue single-family (and duplexes) residential annexations during the life of the agreement
- Perry will receive 0.5% of the income tax generated from annexations during the life of the agreement
- In exchange for the 0.5% income tax, Perry will continue to provide roadway and safety services to annexed parcels.
Sherer also proposed increasing Perry鈥檚 share of income tax for the JEDD parcel to 1%.
Perry trustee Matt Miller declined to comment until he could fully review the letter from the mayor. Miller previously told 精东影业 he is open to renegotiating the JEDD but was concerned that residents were caught in the middle of a contract dispute.
鈥淭he part that is a big disconnect for me is the involvement of real people in a contract dispute between two governments and really harming those that are trying to sell their house, or they've built a house and can't get the water turned on,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淚 mean, those are all very real stories and happening at the speed of their lives, which operates so much quicker than government.鈥�
Miller will meet with Canton officials for a follow-up conversation next week.
