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POSTED: 5:56 pm EDT July 30, 2004 UPDATED: 6:03 pm EDT July 30, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A judge ruled Friday that the village of New Rome has been dissolved.
Common Pleas Judge David Cain ruled in favor of the state to formally end the western Franklin County village.
Attorney General Jim Petro tried for nearly three years to get the village dissolved because he claimed it was nothing but a speed trap.
Petro's complaint alleged that New Rome failed to follow the state's election laws for at least two consecutive election cycles, had not adopted a tax budget for several years and did not offer at least two services typically provided by a municipal government. According to an Ohio law adopted last year, the village met the criteria to be officially dissolved.
Petro's lawsuit followed state Auditor Betty Montgomery's recommendation that the village, founded in 1941, be dissolved.
A law allows the state to file such lawsuits if a village of fewer than 150 people meets two of six criteria of wrongdoing.
Montgomery said New Rome violated state election law 23 times since 1988, mostly in the replacement of council members
About 90 percent of the village's $400,000 annual budget came from traffic fines.