A 2.99-mill levy for the police department would raise $2.45 million annually and increase taxes $105 each year with voter approval.
“We’ve trimmed as much as we could,’’ said Kim Lapensee, township administrator. “We’ve eliminated contracts, made a lot of shifts. We’ll have to make some hard decisions if these don’t pass.”
Trustee Shannon Hartkemeyer said the township has asked all department heads to find cost-cutting and streamlining measures to reduce costs. A hiring freeze has been imposed.
The existing fire, police, and safety-service levies have been stretched far beyond their expected lives, she said.
“We’re now at a point in time where we’d like to respectfully ask the residents to raise their taxes,’’ Hartkemeyer said. “They can make the choice as to the level of service they want.”
To balance both department’s balances, $2.9 million was transferred from the general fund to the fire department and $750,000 to the police department.
“We can only do that once,” Lapensee said. “We must leave a certain amount of money in our general fund for bond rating purposes and obviously, emergencies.”
This year’s fire department budget also includes $4.1 million from a 5-mill levy approved by voters in 2008; $800,000 from the 3.9-mill safety services levy approved in 2015; $945,000 from emergency medical services billing; and $550,000 from a joint economic district (JEDD).
Besides the general fund transfer, the police department’s budget is funded by $2.4 million from a 5.9-mill police levy approved in 2000; $800,000 from the safety services levy, and $1.6 million from the JEDD.
“The JEDD will not be able to sustain the amount needed to support police or fire any year past 2026,” Lapensee said. “We will need that money to support public works since we do not have a road levy.”
Trustee Michael Berding said trustees decided to put separate police and fire levies on the ballot to allow residents to tell them what kind of service they wanted.
“There’s never a good time to ask your residents to raise their taxes, but we decided we would give our residents a voice to tell us what level of service they want,’’ said Trustee Michael Berding.
“If they want the current level of service that they are getting with fire and police, the there’s a necessity to increase revenue. I trust the voters. Whatever they tell us, we’ll have to go with.”
Trustee Joe McAbee said he’s been in favor of putting a small levy on the ballot for several years but did not have the support of fellow trustees.
“We’ve backed ourselves into a bad spot. We transferred $4 million that won’t be enough – there’s no money for capital improvements,” McAbee said.
“If this doesn’t pass there will have to be drastic changes made. It’s a severe situation.”
Fire Chief Ryan Berter said if the levy were to fail, “closure of a firehouse and drastic reductions in staff” were possibilities.
“Our back is up against the wall,’’ he said.
Police Chief Bob Chabali said he is already down three sworn officers from his allocated 28 at a time when calls are increasing. He is concerned that both police and fire levies are on the ballot at the same time the Fairfield schools are asking voters to approve a 1.25 percent earned income tax.
“I’m very worried; how can I not be? “I am hopeful the citizens realize it’s costly to run this department and we’ve done an incredible job of watching our expenses for many, many years,” Chabali said.
“We’re at a tipping point. We may have to look at staffing and equipment.”
Besides the two township levies and the school income tax, the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities has put a 2-mill levy on the ballot.
Additional issues could be put on the ballot by the Feb. 4 deadline.
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