Tax-levy approval would beef up Boardman police force immediately, trustee says

By Ashley Luthern

aluthern@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Township trustees say they’re taking the township in a new direction — starting with the 3.85-mill police levy on the ballot next month.

The new five-year levy is expected to generate about $3.7 million annually, earmarked solely for the police department. It would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 an additional $116.80 each year or 32 cents a day.

Trustee Larry Moliterno said the board eventually would like to see each township department have its own levy.

“If this levy passes, the police department will become very close to being able to be self-sufficient, and our long-term goal is to have all the levies be specific for departments, so the voters can decide what they want to support. And there’s no more having a general fund that can be redistributed any way the trustees want to,” he said.

The police department had 63 officers in 2006, but dropped to 47 including Chief Jack Nichols. The investigative division fell from 13 detectives to eight. Currently five patrol cars are on township streets during each shift.

“This board has made the comment that we want to increase the number of police officers each year by two for the next five years. When we took office, we were at 47 and we want to get it to 57,” said Trustee Tom Costello.

Two will be added this month using a one-time federal grant that will provide the officers’ starting salary — $16 per hour — for three years and stipulates that the township pay for a fourth year, bringing the total number to 49, he added.

If the levy passes, Moliterno said the board “would give authority to the chief to hire them right away, literally the day after the election.”

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.