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Boardman may move police levy to August
BOARDMAN
Voters might not be asked to vote on a new police levy until this summer.
A 3.85-mill, five-year additional police levy will remain on the table, but up for discussion is the date of the election, said Trustee Thomas Costello. There is talk of moving it to August, he added.
On Friday, the insurance committee, which includes the township’s six unions, approved changes to an insurance-plan design, to save $500,000 annually.
“If you sit down and work together and explain things, both sides can come to an agreement,” said Harry Wolfe, International Association of Firefighters 1176 president.
Costello said previously that if the changes were not approved, the police levy would have been removed from the ballot.
A decision on the election date will be made at the upcoming trustees meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday in Calvary Baptist Church, 1463 Shields Road.
After March 1, the township would begin incurring election costs if it decided to move the measure off the May ballot, Costello said.
Without a county or statewide measure in the May election, the township would have to foot the bill as it would for any special election.
“We were planning on paying for it in May when we knew there were no county or statewide issues,” said Administrator Jason Loree.
Thomas P. McCabe, director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, confirmed that the board gave Boardman a March 1 deadline, but could not give specific costs if the township missed it.
“Once we start ordering things, we do have to charge. In March, we start putting together supply kits, and it would be a bigger charge if [the trustees] pull [the levy] later,” McCabe said.
Loree had previously told The Vindicator that the election would cost $500 for each of the township’s 50 precincts for a total of $25,000.
McCabe, however, said that $500 is only the cost of staffing a precinct and that the overall cost is between $800 and $1,000 per precinct.
The final price tag of a township election this May — or any day other than Nov. 8 — will be between $40,000 and $50,000, he said.
McCabe said voter turnout for special elections in Boardman is about 35 percent of registered voters.
Even with the costs, the trustees plan to put a police levy on the ballot before fall, Costello said.
In the early 1970s, Boardman voters did approve a police district which included a continuing levy that now generates about $1.5 million annually, Loree said. Voters in 2008 also approved a safety levy for both police and fire services, generating about $2 million annually.
The proposed 3.85-mill additional police levy would raise $3.6 million annually for five years. The police budget for 2011 is about $7 million.