One of Miami County's rural townships is asking voters in the March primary election to support a new property tax to cover fire and EMS services.
Elizabeth Township trustees say the increase is needed to support these critical services, which they are now covering by pulling money from the general fund.
But some residents, especially farmers with large land holdings, are concerned about the impact of the proposed 8 mill levy.
On average, property owners now pay $38.50 per $100,000 of property value. For a $100,000 property, the proposed levy would add an additional $280 to the bill for a total of $318.50 per $100,000 of market value.
Twelve Miami County townships will have levies for fire or EMS levies on the ballot, and Elizabeth Township's will be one of the largest.
Trustees put this levy on the 2024 primary, to be held March 19, to generate funds for their very new fire & EMS department.
If passed, the levey would generate $626,000 per year.
Currently, the township is using general funds to pay for the cost of these services. That's something Trustee John Ryman doesn't like doing.
"The further we drain that fund down, the less investment income we get from that. And we're very limited," Rynman said.
Don Hagel and many in this rural community of less than 1,700 say that’s a steep property tax. Hagel owns 300-acres that produces grain.
“They need some money," Hagel said. "But I'm a farmer. If it passes, it cost 25% increase in my taxes. That's a big hit at one time.”
On March 7, the trustees hosted an informational meeting in the township’s packed community gymnasium.
Many property owners shared concerns about the burden of paying this proposed levy, especially farmers.
Others said they don’t need a fire department because there is no accessible water supply to extinguish fires. While others point to the low number of emergency calls — less than 240 last year.
Meanwhile others admitted EMS is a valuable asset for everyone.
“When you need EMS, you need EMS. And you’d like to have it. You don’t want it 30 minutes away or not coming at all," Paul Hersberger said. "It’s going to be a tough decision, not feeling good about it after this meeting.”
Others residents have mixed feelings.
“I understand the financial parts of it, but I also know that there's a need for coverage," ulie Millhouse said. "We've had to call the ambulance to the house when my mom was sick and I've had a house fire. So it's a it's a Catch 22 with me.”
The Miami County auditor has a section on their website that illustrates how the proposed 8 mill levy would impact each individual parcel. Property owners can use their name or their address to look up this information.
According to Trustee Greg Dilst, last November, Elizabeth Township reluctantly launched its own fire/EMS department after its almost 20 year contract with New Carlisle suddenly ended.
“We were paying them to staff our building with people, and they were staffing about 20% of the time," Dilst said. "Then running the rest of it from their location in New Carlisle, which was doubling the runtimes to get to us.”
Since then, Troy, Tipp City and neighboring communities have said they don’t have enough firefighters and EMS staff to help Elizabeth Township.
So the township created its own. It pays 25 part-time firefighters to provide 24/7 coverage. They have 1 fire truck and 1 ambulance.
Trustee Dilst emphasizes a fire department does more than put out fires.
"There's Hazmat calls, grain bin rescues. You know, you have people trapped in the grain bin. You got automobile accidents, you need fire department personnel to cut them out," Dilst said.
If the 8 mill levy fails on March 19, Dilst says the township will continue using general funds to cover fire & EMS expenses. Trustees are also researching for grants.
