Champion Township voters will see a 2.65-mill fire levy on their May 2025 ballot. The decision on how much the levy would generate was discussed at a trustee meeting.

After two hours of discussions, trustees voted 2-1 to make the levy 2.65-mil, with the thought that it's enough to cover needed expenses without asking for too much money from Champion Township homeowners.

The five year levy would generate approximately $692,145 a year, and would cost homeowners $93 per $100,000 dollar property value.

Tom Dempsey, Champion Township fire chief, said the biggest problem the levy would help solve is staffing.

He said despite the community growing and aging, there have been no added personnel since 1982.

“In 1982 they ran around 300 calls. Last year, we ran over 2,700 calls, you know, for service. A little bit of a dramatic increase there. But our staffing hasn't increased. Hasn't kept up with it,” said Dempsey.

If passed, the department would hire three additional firefighter paramedics, and would start plans to purchase a fire truck.

If it doesn't pass, Dempsey said it will be hard for the department to keep up with the high call volume.

“It's gonna be a bad situation, not only for my guys, but for the community as a whole. You're gonna look at all the response times you're going to see different township ambulances within our community coming in to do transport, because we're not going to be available,” said Dempsey.

The one trustee who voted against the levy’s millage is Dean Richard York. He said while it can help the department, they all need money in case of an emergency.

“If we take 2.65 [mills] and it's not enough, this is assuming a perfect, perfect world,” said York.

He was hoping to put a 2.9-mill levy. Dempsey agrees.

“2.9 [mills] would have gave us a little bit of a cushion. Give us a couple different options to do different things, but 2.65 we'll get our mission that we set out to do and our vision, we’ll be able to complete that,” said Dempsey.

The township fiscal officer’s calculations showed the levy needed to be at least 2.46 mills to fit the planned budget needs.

The department would also use the funds for equipment, facility updates and an ambulance.