Park District to ask voters for tax levy

The way Tom Davis sees it, the 14 miles that are overgrown, undeveloped and unusable on what was always intended to be a 16-mile trail through Pickaway County stand as an example of why a well-funded, countywide parks and recreation plan is so necessary.

So the Pickaway County Park District, of which Davis is director, filed paperwork Friday to put a tax levy on the ballot in November. If approved, it would raise an estimated $700,000 annually for a countywide parks and recreation program that has never really gotten off the ground since the district was formed in 2002. The 0.5-mill tax levy would cost a property owner about $18 annually for every $100,000 of home value.

It would be the first time a countywide tax would be used to fund such programs.

Amy Elsea is president of the Pickaway County Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Pickaway County Parks and Trails Committee, a coalition that will run the levy campaign.

Elsea said now is the time to get serious about a robust parks and recreation program because years of aggressive work by local leaders to recruit new businesses and industry is paying off with new jobs in the area. But to get those employees to live in Pickaway County, certain amenities must be available.

“People look at communities for the big picture,” Elsea said. “They want good schools, quality recreation, shopping, dining. This is our next step in putting together that whole package.”

The parks district always has operated in relative obscurity with little money, Davis said. Payments for utility easements and the occasional grant were pretty much it until the Pickaway County commissioners pledged $10,000 a year in 2016.

If the levy is approved, the district is pledging that as much as $300,000 a year would go directly to local villages and the city of Circleville to help boost their own parks and recreation programs and projects. The rest of the revenue would stabilize the parks district and allow the organization to leverage money for grants to be used for specific projects, Davis said.

Davis said some priorities would be to develop, expand and better connect trails; to establish a park in the northern edge of the county; to build kayak and canoe access points along the Big Darby Creek; and to perhaps get some old canal locks that are privately owned back into public hands.

“There is so much opportunity here,” said Davis. “But nothing can happen without stable funding.”