WHITEWATER TWP., Ohio — When voters hit the polls Tuesday, property owners in one of Hamilton County's western townships will have an additional tax levy to decide on.
It's aimed at "providing and maintaining a police department and fire department," the levy text reads.
It proposes an annual tax rate increase at a rate not exceeding 9.8 mills for each $1 of taxable value, which amounts to $343 for each $100,000 of the county auditor's appraised value. It's the township's first proposed levy in years.
"We are always trying to plan further down the road," township trustee Guy Schaible said.
The community does not have its own police department and is instead serviced by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. While deputies will respond to emergency calls, currently Whitewater Township and neighboring Crosby and Harrison townships, don't have a contract with HCSO for regular patrols.
Schaible said if his community wants to secure three deputies 24 hours a day, they need to pay HCSO a sum of about $1.4 million per year.
If passed, the levy would cover that cost, leaving roughly an additional $400,000 for other emergency service expenses.
Fire Chief Scott Schorsch said that would help his department keep up with inflation.
Currently, there are 35 Fire and EMS staff members, only nine of whom are full-time.
On average, the township operates with five employees each day. While Schorsch said the status quo works for now, the department could see losses down the road.
"We would like to increase our daily roster numbers," he said. "In the long term we may see loss of employees due to not being able to remain competitive with salaries, not being able to increase our staffing, vehicles that need to be replaced in the future may have to be pushed back, which could lead to increased maintenance costs."
At the end of the day, the levy is not necessary for the township to stay afloat. The community will be covered by deputies and fire/EMS regardless if voters pass it, Schaible said.
"There's no emergency. There's no problem. We don't have any super high crime rate. We don't have all of the calls, and all of the things that we get out here are the same as they have been as long as I can remember," said Schaible. "We look at the people as it's their township and we let them vote. On anything major like this, we let them vote. They're going to decide and whatever they want is what the trustees will do."
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