Weathersfield trustees seek levy for equipment

Staff report

MINERAL RIDGE

Weathersfield Township trustees are asking the Trumbull County auditor to certify the amount of a proposed 1.75-mill, five-year levy to purchase equipment for the police, fire, road and cemetery departments.

The issue would appear on the Nov. 6 election ballot.

The levy is projected to generate $224,000 a year for five years.

It will be distributed at a rate of 30 percent each for the police, fire and road departments, or $67,200 annually, and $22,400 annually or $112,000 over five years for the cemetery, trustees chairman Steve Gerberry said.

Bids for the 2012 Hot Mix Paving Program were awarded to R.T. Vernal, of North Lima at a cost of $87,142.50.

Streets to be repaved are: Gilbert Drive, Lakeside Drive, Sixth Avenue and Wabash Avenue.

At a budget hearing before the special meeting, trustees approved a 2012 amended budget of $4.353 million, which includes a more-than $495,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant for a new digital communications tower and radio equipment and a $118,000 Federal Emergency Management grant, with a $5,925 local share for the fire department for a new rescue vehicle.

The projected 2013 budget of $2.755 million was also approved.

Funds from the tower were carried over because the tower hasn’t been built yet and rollbacks are expected in local government funds, personal property taxes and utilities, Gerberry said.