TRUMBULL COUNTY Levies are important to police, fire departments

In several communities, cuts and layoffs are a possibility if the levies are not passed.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Fire and police personnel here have been beating the streets to do away with confusion over a levy on the upcoming ballot.
"We're getting speakers out to different parts of the city to make sure people know what we are asking for," said Fire Chief Ken Nussle.
Voters in Warren will see a request for "an additional one-half of one percent (1/2 of 1 percent) levy on income" for the police and fire departments. But Nussle and other city officials are working to get the word out that despite how the ballot reads, it's not really an additional tax.
"The board of elections told us that we had to call it an additional tax because the one we have now has an expiration date," he said. "But if this levy passes, everyone will still be paying the same amount they've been paying for the past three years."
Future costs
A current half-percent city income tax is set to expire Dec. 31, Nussle explained, and the levy on the March ballot would take effect Jan. 1, 2005, if it passes. In essence, he said, the new levy will simply replace the old one, and collections would remain the same.
"People will not be paying any more than they have been since the last levy that took the city income tax up to 2 percent," he said.
Money generated from the half-percent tax -- roughly $4.7 million to $5 million each year -- is used to keep the safety forces at recommended staffing levels, for training purposes and for equipment, Nussle said.
If the levy fails, Nussle said, layoffs and other cuts are a real possibility.
Other communities
Warren is not alone in asking voters to pass levy issues to support police and fire departments.
In Liberty, trustees have placed a 4.8-mill replacement levy before voters to cover salaries and benefits, as well as purchase and maintain vehicles for the police department.
The levy would replace two police levies, one at 2 mills, the other at 2.8 mills, which have been in place since 1981.
Township officials have said the police department faces projected deficits of $40,000 this year and $74,000 next year. Although it has an authorized strength of 24 officers, it now only has 21.
If the replacement levy fails, some officers will likely have to be laid off, Chief Anthony Slifka has said.
If the replacement levy passes, it would generate about $1 million a year for the department, Slifka said. The current two levies bring in about $725,000 combined, or about $151,000 per mill; the replacement would bring in about $220,000 per mill.
Other districts asking voters for levies for police and/or fire protection are:
UBrookfield Township, where trustees have placed a 2-mill, five-year levy for the police department.
UChampion Township, where voters are being asked to approve a 1.2-mill, five-year levy for fire protection.
UHubbard Township, where trustees have placed a 1.75, three-year renewal levy for the police department on the ballot.
UWeathersfield Township, where voters are being asked to approve a 1.5-mill, continuing additional levy for fire protection.
slshaulis@vindy.com