WHITEWATER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Residents in Whitewater Township voted against a tax levy aimed at "providing and maintaining a police department and fire department."
The levy proposed 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 was the township's first proposed levy in years.
If it passed, the levy would have covered the $1.4 million per year needed to secure three deputies to respond to emergency calls throughout the community 24 hours a day. Township Trustee Guy Schaible said it would have opened additional money for other emergency service expenses.
Just over 700 people voted in Tuesday's election, with 79% of voters going against the levy.
Schaible said the levy is not necessary to stay afloat and the community will be covered by deputies and fire/EMS even despite it failing.
"There's no emergency. There's no problem. ... 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," Schaible said before the election. "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."
