Communities asking for renewal road levies in May
City, township say taxes won’t increase; seek to make levies continuous.
Two Greene County communities are asking voters to renew road levies in May.
Beavercreek and Beavercreek Twp. have placed road levy renewals on the May 4 election ballot that will not increase taxes. Both communities say these levies, if renewed, will help continue current street services.
Beavercreek
Beavercreek is asking residents to renew a streets levy that’s been on the books since 1986. This levy represents approximately 76% of the street levy fund revenue and is the primary funding source for 37 full-time employees, City Manager
Pete Landrum said.
The city is asking voters to make the road levy continuous instead of renewed every five years because the city doesn’t want to jeopardize such a big chunk of funding, Landrum said. He said the city wants to shift the levy to a continuous levy because the state of Ohio will pay 12.5% on renewal levies in the form of a rollback to the city.
“So by making this (levy) permanent, that makes that (rollback) permanent, because if it would ever fail, we wouldn’t able to renew it if it expires, the burden would be shifted to the residents from the state,” Landrum said.
The levy covers things like snow plowing, street sweeping, pavement repairs, roadside mowing, landscaping, ditching and tree trimming.
“This is our main operating fund,” Landrum said.
The 3.4 mill levy generates about $4.64 million every year.
Without the revenue generated by this levy, Beavercreek residents would see a significant reduction in street and engineering service levels, Landrum said.
This levy provides funding for the operation of the street and engineering divisions. The street division maintains about 253 miles of street, with accompanying street lighting, signs, traffic signals, pavement markings and storm sewer systems, Landrum said. The levy also covers salt purchase and traffic signal operation and sign maintenance.
“It’s severe,” Landrum said. “This is very vital to continue the same level of services we have today.”
The levy will cost residents about $89 per $100,000 property valuation.
Landrum said the recent county reappraisal does not have an impact on the levy. The city gets the exact same amount from property taxes when property values go up or down, he said. So if the levy is renewed, the city will continue to get the same amount of funding that they had been getting.
If voters don’t pass the 3.4mill street levy as a continuous levy in May 2021, council members in December said they would put it back on the November ballot as a levy with a time limit.
“If this fails, we have no snow plow drivers, no pot hole fillers,” Landrum said.
Beavercreek Twp.
The renewal levy in Beavercreek Twp. is 1.5 mills. This levy currently covers general repairs and resurfacing projects as well as the manpower and materials that complete those projects. This levy also covers pot hole repair and salt snow plow operations in the township.
The renewal levy would generate about $468,000 per year, which would go into the township’s road and bridge fund.
Half of the township’s resurfacing money comes from this levy, said Tim Parks, the township’s road superintendent. This levy makes up about 38% of the township’s day-to-day operations, Parks said. t covers all repairs and constructions to road or bridges in Beavercreek Twp.
For a person who owns a home valued at $100,000 this levy costs about $37 per year.
The township is asking for this levy to be renewed as a continuous levy so that it can better plan for road and bridge projects.
“That would give us the ability to plan out farther in advance our projects. We have a five year plan and we can better plan if we have stabilized funding coming in,” Parks said.
This levy originally passed in the 1980s as a 1 mill levy. It was increased to 1.5 mills in 2006, Parks said. The levy on the ballot in May is not asking for more money, Parks said.
“We would like to continue the level of service we’re providing today in the future. We have worked very hard to be very proactive within the unincorporated areas as far as keeping up with repairs, and those kinds of things,” Parks said.