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Boardman seeks input on 3 levies Jan. 24
BOARDMAN
Township trustees will have an open forum about potential levies on the May ballot at their regular meeting Jan. 24.
Officials felt there was not enough time to set up a forum before their next meeting, so they will take residents’ comments and questions before any new business is discussed Jan. 24, said township Administrator Jason Loree.
“The trustees will prepare three potential resolutions and bring them to the meeting,” Loree said.
Those resolutions will either be a police, fire or general-fund levy. All three would be 3.85-mill, five-year additional levies that would generate about $3.7 million annually — and would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 an additional $116.80 annually, he said.
“We’ll most likely have a first reading on that date [Jan. 24],” said Trustee Brad Calhoun at Monday’s trustee meeting.
The trustees have a Feb. 2 deadline to place a levy on the May 3 ballot, meaning the levy recommendation would need two readings by then. The trustees will need to have a special meeting before Feb. 2 for a second reading, because after Jan. 24, their next regular meeting isn’t until Feb. 14.
Loree said trustees do not want to wait until November for another chance at a levy, nor do they want to spend $25,000 for a special election, which is why a May ballot issue is being sought.
Trustees are revisiting a levy because last fall’s vote was so close.
“The community was really split. If a levy goes down by a big margin in May, the trustees will not go for it in November,” Loree said. “There will be major restructuring of the township and a loss of services.”
The November levy lost 8,473 to 8,043.
That restructuring could include 20 or more layoffs of the 132 township employees, Loree said.
At Monday’s meeting Al Miller of Oak Knoll Drive said that he voted for the police levy but offered the trustees advice.
“If you want to sell additional levies, you need to be very specific about what that money is going to go for because right now I’m a little bit concerned,” Miller said.
All three trustees answered that they will be as specific as possible and urged those attending to remind friends and neighbors to attend Jan. 24 or call the township with concerns at 330-726-4150.
Monday’s meeting at St. John Greek Orthodox Church drew 15 residents, about three times the usual number, Calhoun said.
That location was specifically chosen for the first meeting because it is where residents of Newport Glen and Forest Glen vote. Three of the four precincts at that polling location heavily supported the November police levy.
The Jan. 24 trustees meeting will be at Trinity Fellowship Church, 4749 South Ave. At that polling location, the levy was defeated by 89 votes.
Overall, support was lowest at the precincts that voted in Paul C. Bunn Elementary School, off of Sheridan. For precinct 39, which includes Sequoya, Holbrooke and Nova, 177 more people voted against the levy than supported it. That number was 78 for precinct 44, which includes the streets of Lealand, Lemont and Wolosyn.