Dec. 17--The question of whether Orange Township should be allowed to put a fire levy on the February ballot is at the Ohio Supreme Court.
The township last week asked the court to force the Delaware County Board of Elections to put the levy on the ballot. Today, the board filed an answer that shows it intends to fight the township's request.
The township asked for the new levy on Nov. 7, the day after a higher levy failed at the polls. The board of elections denied the township's request, saying the request came after the deadline to submit for the February ballot.
The deadline to submit was 4 p.m. Nov. 7; the township emailed its application a few minutes before the deadline. Township officials hand-delivered a hard copy of the application a few minutes after the deadline.
The township's trustees voted on Dec. 7 to appeal to the Supreme Court. The trustees also voted, separately in November, to give notice to 22 firefighter-paramedics that they could be let go because the original levy failed.
The firefighters' contracts require 60-days notice before any firefighters can be laid off. Trustee Lisa Knapp has asked the township's other trustees to rescind those layoff notices, but Township Administer Gail Messmer said the trustees would not discus rescinding the notices at their meeting tonight.
Orange Township's new levy would raise the tax rate for fire and emergency medical services by about 2 mills, to 7.5 mills, for three years, which would generate about $6.8 million a year. The department is spending about $6.9 million a year to operate, said township Fiscal Officer Joel Spitzer.
The Orange Township levy would cost a taxpayer about $230 per year per $100,000 of a property's taxable value. The levy that failed in November was for 7.8 mills.
A fire and EMS levy also failed in neighboring Liberty Township in November. Liberty Township also has asked that a new levy be placed on the February ballot and submitted a hard copy of its request before 4 p.m. on the deadline day.
Copyright 2012 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
