Austintown residents OK police levy

March 7, 2012 at 12:07a.m.

Austintown

Township trustees praised residents for approving a police levy that they say will help maintain safety- enforcement services.

Austintown voters approved a 2-mill levy that will raise about $1.17 million annually for five years. The levy replaces a 1.6-mill police levy originally approved by voters in 1976. That levy is collecting only about $357,000 annually, or 38 percent of its original valuation.

The additional 0.4 mills will generate about $794,000 annually and bring the levy back up to today’s valuation. The owner of a $100,000 home will pay an additional $48 per year.

Trustee David Ditzler said as far as township levies go, this one was of the utmost importance.

“This was probably the most important election in Austintown to date,” he said. “It was so important to ensure our ability to maintain our safety forces.”

The levy was approved with 52.84 percent of residents voting yes.

The police department received $600,000 in 2011 from the township’s general fund.

Police Chief Bob Gavalier previously said that amount will be significantly less in 2012 because of budget cuts from the state.

“This levy will mainly help us offset those funding cuts and keep us where we’re at now,” he said.

Gavalier said the department now has 36 full-time officers, nine fewer than at its peak in 2001.

He said the funding also will help to maintain current staffing levels by allowing him to fill positions when several officers retire over the next few years.

Ditzler and Trustee Jim Davis both said they’re not surprised by the results.

“This is an indication of the job that our police department has done over the years,” he said. “Our residents know the job our safety enforcement officials do.”

Ditzler said Gavalier should be credited for the department’s success.

“Our chief has a lot to do with that,” Ditzler said. “His reputation with the community is that of someone who is identified as trustworthy and honest.”

Davis noted that Austintown residents think highly of their police department.

“The approval of this levy speaks volumes for what the township thinks of its police,” he said.

Davis said the police department can continue operating at its current level of services thanks to the voters.

“We won’t have to reach into the general fund to subsidize our police department,” he said. “They’ll now be self-sufficient.”

Davis said the next step is to review the budget and look at where the township, as a whole, is headed.

“We’ll look at the near future and at what we can do with the budget we have now,” he said.

In Poland schools, 69.12 percent of residents voted against a 3.8-mill, five-year additional emergency operating levy that would have generated $1,448,561 annually.

The levy also was defeated in November 2010 and May 2011.

The last time an additional levy was approved by voters was in 2003, and it was for 6.9 mills. That levy was supposed to last for five years and was stretched until 2010, when the district put an additional levy on the ballot, Superintendent Dr. Robert Zorn said previously.

Zorn and school board president Dr. Larry Dinopoulos didn’t return calls for comment Tuesday night.

The district is paying off a bond levy, and when that and tax rollbacks are taken into account, the new levy would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home $91.88 annually.

A 1.0-mill permanent improvement renewal levy, which originally was approved by voters in 1978, was approved with 51.85 percent of the vote.

That levy generates about $370,000 annually that is designated for so-called brick-and-mortar maintenance and improvements. It costs the owner of a $100,000 home $30.63 per year.