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Roemer continues to contribute half his council salary to charity
RICHARD WEINER
Legal News Reporter
Published: October 30, 2014
Soon after William “Bill” Roemer was first elected to Summit County Council in 2010, he decided to donate half of his salary, nearly $12,000 in total, to charity each year.
At the time, Roemer said that he would continue to do so until the county balanced its budget. But, whatever the reason, he continues to give half his salary to Summit County charities, and greatly expanded the number of recipient charities this year, nearly doubling that number to more than 40.
“I have been able to help a lot a lot of charities, and I have gotten a lot out of the process,” Roemer said. “I have tried to make reasonable contributions, and spread the money around as far as possible.” The gifts have averaged around $300 each, he said.
Roemer’s donations, while each, individually under $1000, make an impact, he said. The largest of them went, this year, to the Victim Assistance Program; the Battered Women’s Shelter; Dr. Milton Rubin Oral Health Education, which provides dental education for underprivileged children; Haven of Rest; and Open M.
Since Roemer started this project, he said, he has, “learned a lot about the philanthropic community of Summit County. I would have never known about many of these places,” he said, except for the application process for these grants, which are also over seen by a small board.
He estimated that he has personally visited three-quarters of the charities that he has donated that salary to, including a number of food banks, women’s shelters, and other non-profits.
“As an example,” he said, “there is a food bank called Sarah’s House in the basement of an Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority (AMHA) building (at 414 Pine St.), whose entire yearly budget is $5000. The staff is all volunteer, and they give food to needy people, and give them a hot meal. I went there, on a cold and rainy day, and there were at least 100 people in line. Everybody there needed assistance.” His contribution constituted a notable percentage of the food bank’s annual budget.
All in all, Roemer is very happy with what he has been able to do with half of his Council salary. “We aren’t the Knight Foundation, or the Akron Foundation,” he said. “So it is nice to be able to donate to smaller, non-traditional charities.”