New Carlisle Council seeks tax increase for fire/EMS

UPDATE @ 9:45 p.m.

New Carlisle City Council unanimously voted Wednesday night to move forward with a levy request to fund the city’s fire and emergency medical services.

Fire Chief Steve Trusty and council members discussed the city’s fire department challenges, including low pay for personnel and rising equipment costs.

The most recent tax increase approved by voters was a half-percent income tax hike in 2015, which moved the tax rate from 1 to 1.5 percent.

If certified by the Clark County Auditor’s Office, the 3-mill, five-year levy would be placed on the May 8 ballot. It would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $105 a year, if approved, and would not start to be collected until 2019.

FIRST REPORT

New Carlisle’s City Council members will vote Wednesday on a proposed property tax increase to support the city’s fire and EMS department.

Council members will discuss the details of the levy and vote at a special meeting at 7 p.m. in the Smith Park Shelter House. The meeting is open to the public.

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If approved by the council, a 3-mill, five-year levy will be placed on the May 8 ballot. For a $100,000 home in Ohio, each mill costs $35, so a 3-mill levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $105 per year.

If passed, the additional tax would take effect in 2019.

The proposed additional property tax would be used for equipment and salaries, said Fire Chief Steve Trusty, who declined to discuss other details of the levy until after Wednesday’s meeting.

The city’s current 10-mill limitation is “insufficient and inadequate for the necessary requirements of the city of New Carlisle,” the ordinance for the proposed levy says.

The levy would be used to provide and maintain fire equipment and buildings, establish and maintain fire alarm communications, pay personnel and purchase ambulance equipment, the ordinance says.

“It’s definitely needed,” New Carlisle Mayor Ethan Reynolds said. “We haven’t had new money in quite some time.”

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The price of fire equipment has risen, Reynolds said, and without changes in the tax collected, money has been tighter within the department.

“The citizens of New Carlisle value a responsible fire department, and Chief Trusty been able to do that with the money we have,” Reynolds said. “But, unfortunately, with prices rising, it’s more difficult.”

The most recent tax increase voters approved in New Carlisle was a half-percent income tax hike in 2015, which bumped the city’s income tax rate from 1 to 1.5 percent. That tax hike initially failed when it was put on the ballot in November 2014, prompting the city to make major budget cuts.

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The additional revenue from the passage of the income tax allowed the city to pay for police protection that had been reduced after it failed the first time.

In 2017, New Carlisle voters rejected a proposed tax change that would have exempted New Carlisle residents who work in other cities from paying New Carlisle’s income tax.

Had it passed, the proposal, which made it to the ballot via a citizen petition, could have potentially devastated New Carlisle’s finances, city leaders said.

Wednesday’s special meeting will be the second held this month. Last Wednesday, Jan. 10, the council introduced the proposed levy and appointed a new Clerk of Council.

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The council voted unanimously to appoint Emily Brenner to the clerk position. Brenner will replace former Clerk of Council Gene Collier, who announced he would retire from the position in December.

Brenner was sworn in at the council’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

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