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Springfield levy will not appear on ballot
The earliest the levy now can be put before voters is in February.
NEW SPRINGFIELD — A 2-mill Springfield Township police levy due to be renewed in November will not appear on the ballot because of a missed deadline.
Danielle O’Neill of the Mahoning County Board of Elections said Monday that regardless of circumstances, state election laws must be followed. The law states that actions certifying levies to the ballot must be taken 75 days before the election.
Springfield Township trustees met in emergency session Friday — one day after the deadline — and authorized placement of the levy on the November ballot.
Patti Gibson, township fiscal director, said trustees met when they became aware that action was needed. She added the Mahoning County Auditor’s office usually notifies the township by letter when levies are up for renewal but had not done so this time.
She said the auditor’s office sent paperwork to her earlier in the year that listed the levy as having already been renewed in May 2007. Over the weekend, however, Gibson checked township paperwork and said the auditor’s office was incorrect and the levy was definitely not renewed.
She said as a result of the error, township offices will begin charting all levies and their renewal dates instead of relying on notices from the county. “This has been a lesson learned,” she said.
O’Neill said the township’s next chance for ballot placement is at a special election in February, which means that if it passes, the levy could start being collected again in October 2009.
One bright spot in the situation, Gibson said, is that a 2-mill levy passed in February would actually bring in more money than if passed this coming November. This is because the levy was originally passed in 1997 and a continuing levy cannot bring in more money than the millage brought in on the valuation the year it was first collected.
With the lapse in collection, however, the two mills will be calculated on the current township property valuation. Gibson said another possibility is the millage amount could even possibly be reduced if trustees decide to put the levy on in February.