TIPP CITY – The city says it will reap a positive economic impact by annexing Ginghamsburg Church from Monroe Twp. as well as save the church thousands of dollars in water service and eventually sewage and electric as well.

Under the agreement, the church’s approximately 111 employees will pay Tipp City’s 1.5 percent income tax, and Tipp City will drop the charge for the church using its water, which has been about $60,000 a year.

“It will have a positive economic impact on our city,” Tipp City Manager Jon Crusey said. “Ginghamsburg Church has always been a good neighbor, and we are looking forward to forging new strategic partnerships with the church.”

The church has already paid most of the $124,000 fee for building a waterline for the church, with a final payment due Monday. The annexation is scheduled to be finalized Tuesday.

Monroe Twp. Trustee Philip Cox said it would be, “a friendly transfer. We lose a little bit of property tax, but we certainly understand why they want to leave. They need the water.”

Nate Gibson, executive director of business operations for the mega church — which also has satellite churches at Fort McKinley on Siebenthaler Avenue in Dayton and at The Point on Main Street in Trotwood — said the church, which has been at its present location since 1994, was using two wells to service its building on its 127-acre main campus.

Two years ago, “we began experiencing severe water outages,” and trucked in water was used until the church and Tipp City combined to extend a new water line to the property. It was then talk of annexation began.

“I have been a Tipp City resident and the pastor of Ginghamsburg Church for 33 years,” lead Pastor Mike Slaughter said. “This annexation more formally marks the significance we place as a church on serving with and for our Tipp City neighbors to build a safe, strong and healthy community.”

The church, located at 6759 South County Road 25A, says it has served 2,158 people and 746 families in Tipp City and Monroe Twp. through different services, including a food pantry, clothing store, furniture store and other assistance.

The church is the fourth largest United Methodist Church in the country serving more than 40,000 people annually in Miami and Montgomery counties. It has an average weekly attendance of more than 4,600 people.