In Huber Heights, voters will decide whether or not to renew a 0.25% earned income tax.
In May, voters rejected the 10-year renewable measure. Annually, it generates about $2.75 million for Huber Heights police, EMS and fire.
Mark Haun is president of the city’s Firefighters Local 2926. He says the income tax enables the city to keep residents safe.
“That’s staffing issues, that’s equipment, that’s everything so basically when someone calls 911 for a police officer, or a fire fighter or EMS, these dollars are what provide funding for those people to be able to respond to your house,” Haun said.
If the measure fails again, the city will have to divert money from its general fund to support these critical services. According to Haun, that will directly impact recreational sites.
"Closure of some of the parks, closure of the Kroger aquatic center, to the splash pads , cuts to park maintenance possibly," Haun expalined. "Those are the things that could potentially be cut in order to take the dollars that would normally go to those amenities and they would have to be redirected to the fire and to the police department because those are a critical piece of infrastructure to the city and to the residents."
The 0.25% earned income tax has been in place since 2014.
