On May 3, voters in Williamsburg Township voted against an additional tax levy for 5-mills for safety services for a continuing period of time.
The levy was voted down by 57.36 percent of the electorate, according to unofficial results from the Clermont County Board of Elections. The final vote was 577 to 429.
This was the first time in almost 20 years that the township has run a levy, according to the township’s board of trustees meeting minutes from Dec. 28, 2021.
The township had been experiencing a carryover balance for the past several years, but the township has had to spend about $100,000 more than it took in during the last three years, and the carryover has been diminishing quickly.
The proposed levy was needed to pay for additional staff, the department has had to rely on volunteers, which is a declining pool of workers, and for operations.
Chief Kevin Wiedemann explained in December 2021 that the department currently has four staff members, including himself during the daytime and that the run time is about 1.5 minutes out of the station. He said that during the overnight, the department has two staff members on duty and that EMS run times are about 2.5 minutes. He noted that if the department has a fire run, the run time can be as much as 15 minutes for the volunteers to get the notifications, get out of bed and get dressed and get to the station to get out the door.
A 5-mill levy would have brought in an estimated $650,000 annually and would have been used to help to offset the additional costs of more staff uniforms, bunker gear, and inflation for several years into the future, with the intention of not having to go back to the taxpayers to ask for an increase for some time.
Based on the Clermont County Auditor’s preliminary calculations in late 2021, the levy would have cost the owner of property valued at $100,000 about $175 a year.