Fairborn seeks to renew 10-year income tax levies for police, fire and roads
Fairborn voters will decide in the March election whether to renew two 10-year income tax levies, one that funds the city’s police and fire operations, and another that pays for road improvements.
If approved, the pair of 0.25% tax issues would keep tax rates the same. They are projected to generate more than $5 million a year combined for public safety and street upgrades, according to the city ($2.5 million for each purpose).
Fairborn’s current total city income tax rate is 2%.
Separately, each of the tax issues would cost $125 annually for someone earning $50,000 a year, Fairborn records show. Both tax levies expire at the end of 2024.
Both levies were first approved in 2004, Fairborn Acting City Manager Mike Gebhart said. They were renewed 10 years later by more than 63% of voters, Greene County Board of Election records show.
The ballot measures were each approved by city coun- cil last week, two days before the filing deadline.
The public safety levy “is crucial to the continued high- level operations and services” of police and fire departments, Fairborn City Solicitor Mike McNamee said in a memo.
Without it, “operations would be significantly hin- dered both in personnel and staffing as well as the quality of equipment and vehi- cles able to serve the pub- lic and ensure their safety,” he added.
The police department is authorized for 53 sworn offi- cers, including command staff, but four positions are cur- rently vacant, Gebhart said. The department responded to more than 107,000 calls in 2021-22 combined, according to city records.
The fire department has 49 firefighters/paramedics staff- ing four stations around the clock, Gebhart said. Nearly 14,000 calls were responded to in 2021-22, he added.
“Both of our public safety departments are very, very busy,” Gebhart said.
The street levy has been used to fund “multiple major projects” in the past decade, including Maple Avenue, Broad Street/Ohio 444 and Col. Glenn Highway pedes- trian improvements, he said.
The cost of those three projects combined has been more than $14 million so far, with two of the final Broad Street phases planned in the next few years, according to the city.
Work on those projects has received more than $4.3 million in outside funding, Fairborn records show. More than $3 million more combined is expected in grants from the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission to finish Broad Street’s plan, according to the city.
In 2022, the city also identified 39 streets that needed “various forms of attention,” including asphalt milling and resurfacing, Gebhart said.