Though township staffers admit they would prefer to avoid new levies, they cite community surveys in 20, when 93 percent of residents rated the police department 'excellent.' The township's last change in police funding came in 2008, when the Perry Township trustees terminated two police levies totaling 12.2 mills after residents approved a 9.1-mill replacement levy. Of the department's seven cars, Oppenheimer said, two need replaced this year.

And those are really unfunded liabilities to us, so there's not much we can do.'įunds from the new levy would go toward everything from paying gas bills to buying paper for the office, as well as adding two new police cruisers. We're required by Ohio law to do certain things and that drives up expenses. 'Medical, fuel, labor, everything goes up. 'Like any households, expenses go up,' he said.

There are expenses we'll be incurring in the future - operational expenses, equipment, supplies, training - that will need to be taken care of.'Ĭhief Robert Oppenheimer said the police department has faced increases in costs just like anyone else. 'We want to be sure they have the operational dollars moving forward. 'The police department is extremely important to the community,' Trustee Chet Chaney said. If approved, the new levy would take effect in 2016 and would be the first increase in police funding in 10 years.Īlthough township staff say they would prefer not to ask residents for money, they say the move is a necessary one. The proposed levy would cost township property owners about $123 per $100,000 of assessed property value. Perry Township officials last week announced that the township would ask voters for a 3.5-mill police levy on the May 5 ballot.

Perry township ohio police