Austintown trustees vote to put police levy on ballot in November
Austintown Trustees voted to give a police levy a second try at the ballot box this November. The 3.2-mill levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home between $55 and $59 dollars a year. The fiscal officer says it will generate $1,990,583 a year for the Austintown Police Department beginning in 2019. The policy levy was defeated by just 14 votes last time it was put up to the public for a vote, and trustees say it is desperately needed to maintain services by the police force....
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio - Austintown Trustees voted to give a police levy a second try at the ballot box this November.
The $3.2-mill levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home between $55 and $59 dollars a year. The fiscal officer says it will generate $1,990,583 a year for the Austintown Police Department beginning in 2019.
The policy levy was defeated by just 14 votes last time it was put up to the public for a vote, and trustees say it is desperately needed to maintain services by the police force.
Austintown Trustee Ken Carano says the amount of money in the township's budget has been reduced by almost $6-million since 2010 with the governor taking that money and putting it in the rainy day fund.
"Our money goes to the state and comes back to us for our use was taken away because he decided to have a rainy day fund. The rainy day fund now has hit its limit. The rainy day fund in Columbus is $2.7-billion. That means that this is money, money that taxpayers from all over the state of Ohio, and from Austintown, have sent to Columbus and have put in a fund for a rainy day. I don't know, I tried to get to the governor and tell him it's thunder and lightning right now," Carano said.
The Austintown Trustees are also urging voters to phone or write to both candidates for Ohio Governor, Richard Cordray, and Mike DeWine, as part of the levy campaign and demand that whoever is elected, they return the rainy day fund monies back to local communities.
