Delhi Twp. adds parks and fire levies to May ballot | News

DELHI TOWNSHIP, OH (FOX19)- A local township voted to place a parks and recreation levy and a fire protection and emergency medical services levy on the May ballot.

Delhi Township Board of Trustees met on Wednesday to vote during a special meeting, and voted unanimously in favor of putting both levies on the May 7th ballot.

Officials say without a levy, the parks and recreation and fire departments will have a deficit by 2014. "Things go up. The price of electric goes up. The price of fixing a fire truck goes up, you know, so on and so forth," said Delhi Township Administrator, Pete Landrum.

"We've done a great job of stretching these levies out, especially the fire levy from five to eight years. Without a levy, we would be forced to have drastic staffing level changes in both the parks and fire departments," said Landrum.

Based on analysis, officials say the fire department would be covered with a 1.75 or 2-mill levy, and a .75-mill levy would be appropriate for the parks and recreation department.

The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $52.77 each year with a 1.75-mill fire levy, raising $815,361. For the .75-mill parks levy, the same value homeowner would pay $22.61 per year, with an estimated property tax revenue of $349,440.

Landrum said the township has three options.

"You need to generate additional revenue to maintain the current level of services, reduce service level to match current revenue, or a combination of both."

Copyright 2013 WXIX. All rights reserved.