Residents vote to bring back overnight police officers

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP

Third-shift police officers will soon be seen again in Franklin Township, after residents agreed Tuesday to increase their property taxes to pay for them.

The township laid off all overnight officers last year to balance its budget. Residents have clamored to have the service restored.

Voters OK’d a five-year, 4.1-mill tax levy to reinstate the 24-hour department, with a final approval vote of 62 percent, according to final, unofficial election results from Franklin County.

“I definitely want to thank all the voters, the Board of Trustees and especially everyone who helped us canvass for the levy. Their support was instrumental in its success,” Franklin Township Police Chief Byron Smith said.

About 400 of the township’s 10,000 or so residents voted Tuesday.

The tax issue will generate about $612,000 annually — enough revenue to eventually hire at least five, full-time officers and restore the third shift in 2018, the year that the township will start collecting the new funds.

That would increase the department’s total number of full-time officers from six to 11, although it might still use some part-time officers on an as-needed basis, Smith said.

Until then, Franklin County deputies will continue to respond to overnight emergencies. They’ve covered the township since its third shift disappeared, but don’t respond to any low-priority offenses or crimes that aren’t currently in progress. That includes disorderly conduct, runaway teens, thefts, domestic abuse and sex crimes.

Those calls must wait until 8 a.m., when first-shift police begin working.

Franklin Township’s new levy will change that, but also will nearly double the amount of taxes that homeowners pay for police services.

It will cost a homeowner an additional $143 in property taxes each year for every $100,000 of home value, according to the Franklin County Auditor’s Office. Currently, that same homeowner pays about $148 annually.

That’s quite a sacrifice in a township with about a quarter of its residents living below the poverty line, Trustee Don Cook said.

“The trustees appreciate their willingness to vote for the levy for a safer township,” he said.

Before the recently approved levy, Franklin Township’s entire yearly budget was about $10 million. About $900,000 of that paid for police services.

Tuesday’s vote comes just six months after voters approved a five-year, 5.89mill fire levy after rejecting the issue three straight times. That levy generates $850,000 yearly and costs homeowners an additional $206 a year in property taxes per $100,000 of home value.