Chester Police Ask for First New Levy Money in 19 Years
It has been nearly two decades since the Chester Township Police Department asked property owners to pass a levy to support it.
It has been nearly two decades since the Chester Township Police Department asked property owners to pass a levy to support it.
Police Chief Mark Purchase said the department operates on five levies, the newest approved 19 years ago.
A couple older levies are continuing levies and one was passed to support a township constable long ago, he said.
Chester Township property owners will have an opportunity Nov. 2 to vote on a five-year, 0.5-mill additional levy to maintain the department’s buildings and equipment, not add new personnel, Purchase said in a phone interview Sept. 8.
If approved, the levy would cost homeowners $17.50 per year in additional taxes per $100,000 property valuation and yield about $204,859 per year, according to the Geauga County Auditor’s Office.
“If it passes, we will not add staff or equipment,” he said. “We want to keep the men and women we have here working and to simply maintain everything we have.”
The department has 15 full-time officers, a full-time administration person and a part-time patrolman, Purchase said. There are 12 officers on the roads, the chief, captain and a detective and one full-time school resource officer.
He said the resource officer is paid 50% by the township and 50% by West Geauga Schools.
The department is not supported by the township general fund, Purchase said.
Over the years, the levies have been renewed regularly and two more are due in 2023 and 2024, but the department has not had an increase in additional funds for 19 years.
In 2005, the township turned emergency dispatch services over to the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office dispatch service which allowed the CTPD to save the cost.
In 2009, a police renewal levy was lowered from 2.44 mills to 1.77 mills, returning about $1.8 million to residents through non-collection for 11 years, Purchase said.
In 2012, Ohio, in an effort to balance its budget, cut local government funds from townships, shorting the police department about $40,000 per year, or about $500,000 since then, he recalled.
The department survived and prospered by being careful and using the funds saved from eliminating the dispatch service, Purchase said. That has dwindled.
“We are starting to burn through the carryover money at an alarming rate,” he said. “We would not tell anyone we need a levy if we did not really need it.”
The efforts have not gone unnoticed. In March, Safewise listed Chester Township as the safest community for its size in Ohio, Purchase said.
The full story is at Ohio’s 20 Safest Cities of 2021 | SafeWise.
