“The passage of the levy will combine two levies into one,” said Trustee Keith Ballauer, a former Ross Twp. firefighter.
“It will allow the township residents not to have to go to the polls every couple of years.”
The tax increase to voters would only be .75-mills once the two existing levies are rescinded, said Julie Joyce-Smith, the township’s fiscal officer. The tax on a $100,000 home would go from $102.50 annually to $227.50 annually or an additional $125 each year, Joyce-Smith said.
The two existing levies bring in about $1.1 million annually, Joyce-Smith said. If approved, the new levy would bring in about $1 million more each year, beginning in January.
That money would be used for operations and to replace aging equipment as needed, said fire Chief Christopher Johns.
By the end of this year the fire department will have spent its carryover and faces a $200,000 deficit by the end of 2026 without extra dollars, Joyce-Smith said.
“We’re still operating on money from 11 years ago with 2025 prices,” Johns said. “It’s come to the point we have to ask for more — just the increase of doing business.”
The department has four fulltime firefighters plus the chief, and 40 part-time firefighters to staff its two stations. The chief said he would like to hire additional firefighters.
“I’m struggling to fill shifts,” Johns said. “Eighty percent of our part-time firefighters are fulltime elsewhere and have to cancel if their fulltime job needs them.”
At the same time the department struggles with staffing, calls for service are increasing, Johns said.
Calls went from 1,278 in 2023 to 1,497 last year. By mid-September last year, the department had responded to 984 calls for service. This year at the same time the department responded to 1,110 calls.
The additional money from the levy will also help pay for replacement of an ambulance next year and an aging pumper down the road. Stretchers in three ambulances also need to be replaced.
“We need this levy to keep the same service we have right now and maybe hire a few more. We need to get the fire department back up to where it can sustain itself,” said Trustee Dave Young, a former chief of the township’s emergency medical services department.
“We need to maintain a department that can work with other departments, update radios to communicate internally and with other departments.”
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