Trustees seek renewal of police and fire levies

Township returns issue to ballot five years after voters’ strong approval.

Voters in Miami MIAMI TWP. —

Twp. can expect to see tax issue requests on the fall ballot that continue to fund fire and police services at the same levels.

The township is seeking to renew levies to fund safety forces for five more years. A 3.5-mill fire levy and a 5.25-mill police issue soundly approved by voters in the spring of 2013 are set to expire at the end of the year.

Township trustees Tuesday night unanimously approved measures to have both levies on the Nov. 6 ballot.

“We have one of the best — if not the best — fire department and police departments in the area, in the state, in the nation,” trustees President John Morris said.

“And they need to be funded. The levies are due for renewal, and we have asked that they simply be renewed at their current funding levels. We’re not asking for any increases. We want to continue the service that we’re providing and these levies will do that.”

The levies are among two tax issues that fund services for both departments. Fire services for the township are share with Miamisburg through the Miami Valley Fire District, a joint operation started in 2012 and that both jurisdictions made permanent last year.

Approval of the fire levy would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 no more than $122.50 a year, according to the township. It would generate about $1.93 million annually, according to the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office.

Those numbers for the police levy are no more than $183.75 a year for the owner of home val-

ued at that rate and would generate about $2.9 million a year, officials said.

Both levies would be used to fund general services, including salaries, equipment and maintenance, officials said.

Since the merger of those services with Miamisburg, the fire district has cut costs without sacrificing service, officials from both jurisdictions have said. Currently, the district is operating a budget levels from more than a decade ago, said trustees Vice President Doug Barry.

The “same amount of money we’re spending on the fire district now is what we spent in 2006,” said Barry, who is also vice president of the fire district’s board of trustees.

“And this will keep us funding it at that same level,” he added about the levy renewal. “We combined the Miamisburg and the Miami Twp. fire departments a little over five years ago and it’s actually saved us from having to go out for new money in the past and it continues to save us funds.”