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Levy to be only issue on ballot in Boardman
The polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. To find your polling location, contact the Mahoning County Board of Elections at 330-783-2474. A valid form of identification is needed to vote. That includes:
- A current and valid photo identification
- (such as an Ohio driver’s license, state ID card, government ID).
- A military identification.
- A copy of a current utility bill (including cellphone bill), bank statement, paycheck, government check, or other government document that shows the voter’s name and current address including documents from a public college or university.
Boardman Police by the numbers
47 officers in 2011
63 officers in 2006
$33,000 starting annual salary for a
police officer
$7.1 million police budget in 2011
$17.1 million total township budget in 2011
BOARDMAN
Township residents can vote at their polls from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to decide the fate of an additional police levy.
The 3.85-mill, five-year additional police levy is the only issue Boardman Township voters will see on the special-election ballot. The levy would generate about $3.8 million annually designated for the police department and cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $117 annually.
Nearly 2,000 ballots already have been cast, most from mailed-in absentee ballots, said Thomas McCabe, director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections.
Township trustees have said that if the levy is approved, they would like to hire the following positions over the next two years: 10 additional police officers, one diversion specialist, one advocate, one crime analyst, one secretary, two records clerks and two dispatchers.
A five-year budget forecast from the police department that accounts for employee salary and benefits and the yearly increases in pay puts the average cost of those additions per year at about $1.4 million.
If the levy is approved, trustees have said the amount of money going to the police budget from the general fund would be scaled back by about $2.4 million. The police budget would see an overall increase from $7.1 million, the budget for 2011, to $8.5 million.
A continuing levy approved in the early 1970s now generates about $1.5 million annually. In 2008, voters also supported a safety levy for both police and fire services, generating about $2 million annually.