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Austntown trustees seek levy information, OK firetruck purchase
AUSTINTOWN
Austintown trustees have asked the Mahoning County auditor for revenue information about two potential township levies.
Trustee Jim Davis said one levy is a 1-mill additional levy for road repairs. The other is a 1-mill additional levy that would provide for maintenance of police motor vehicles, equipment and personnel.
Township Administrator Mike Dockry said Austintown has four police levies generating $4.3 million annually and two road levies generating $1.1 million.
The auditor will tell township officials the amount each levy would generate and what they would cost residents annually.
“We’re not doing this to hire another 20 police officers,” Davis said. “We are saying, ‘Pass this levy because the state has cut our budget between $1.2 and $1.5 million.’ [Gov.] John Kasich has a beautiful rainy-day fund, but has passed this [additional costs] onto the backs of taxpayers.”
Davis was referring to a state cut in local government funds sent back to political subdivisions. The state’s rainy-day fund is an estimated $2 billion.
In other business, trustees approved the purchase of a new $430,000 firetruck to replace a 1986 truck.
“That 1986 firetruck was actually an open-cab firetruck, which is actually outdated by federal standards,” Davis said. “We have been purchasing firetrucks every fire years now, and we are glad to be within federal guidelines.”
The money for the firetruck came from two fire levies that generate $2.7 million annually.