Middlefield Village Police Levy Passes; Township Road Levy Crashes

November 6, 2014 by

The majority of Middlefield Village voters were feeling generous Tuesday when they went to the polls and passed a replacement police levy.

Middlefield Township was not so lucky with its road and bridge levy.

The five-year, 2-mill Middlefield Village Police replacement levy, passed 426 votes to 311 votes, according to final unofficial results of the Geauga County Board of Elections.

The levy yield will increase from $65,000 to $166,000 per year, replacing a 1-mill levy passed in 1980 that has cost property owners $14 per year for a house valued at $100,000, according the county auditor’s website.

The replacement levy will cost about $70 annually per $100,000 property valuation.

Village Police Chief Joe Tucholsky said the levy will give his department enough money to stay afloat, not to to add personnel or equipment.

“I’m very relieved and very happy it passed,”?he said, crediting supportive voters for their very good turnout.

The village police department budget is about $980,000 annually, said village Councilman Rick Seyer when council agreed to put the levy on the ballot.

“We subsidize the police department,” he said. “The police levy (yields) a small percent of actual costs.”

Mayor Ben Garlich said the increase from $14 to $70 sounds horrendous, but various councils over the years chose not to ask for levy increases to keep up with department costs.

Middlefield Township voters narrowly defeated a 2.5-mill, five-year road and bridge levy with a vote of 261 to 251.

The levy would have yielded about $173,382 per year, according to the Geauga County Auditor’s Office, and cost the owner of a $100,000 home $87.50 per year in property taxes. The last road levy the township voters passed was in 1996.

The township road superintendent and Trustee Mervin Miller did not return phone calls?Tuesday night.