Thursday, May 06, 1999
Communications levy's defeat dismays officials
Burden shifts to communities
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Some emergency communication seems to be in order.Many local officials said Wednesday they would welcome an opportunity to discuss the future of the county's emer gency communication system with Hamilton County commissioners in the wake of the voters' rejection of Issue 3.
The four-year special levy would have raised $63.7 million to pay for a digital, countywide communication system for police, fire and ambulance service. But it was defeated Tuesday, 52 percent to 48 percent, or by about 3,000 votes.
The system would have allowed different agencies to communicate with one another in disasters such as last month's tornado.
It also would have replaced a 40-year-old system that emergency response person nel say is easily overloaded and cannot penetrate into buildings.
Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said local officials need to let the county know what to do next.
“I think we need to spend some time talking to local elected officials to see what direction we want to go in,” Mr. Bedinghaus said.
Local officials agree.
Green Township Trustee Bill Seitz said the cost could be divvied up among the county's 44 communities, but some would not be able to afford their share.
“I don't know what the cost would be, but I would encourage a meeting with all the jurisdictions to work through it,” Mr. Seitz said. “But some thing will have to be done. Local taxes will have to go up or other services will have to be cut back.
“The final possibility is that some jurisdictions just won't pay for it.”
Critics of Issue 3 say the new system should be paid for with a combination of the
county government's surplus and borrowed money.
Mr. Bedinghaus said that won't happen. He said having some Hamilton County communities not on the system will be the ultimate shame.
“We had an opportunity to buy a system that no local community could afford on their own,” he said.
The April 9 tornado that killed four people in the area apparently had no impact on Tuesday's vote.
In Symmes Township, hard-hit by the tornado, the tax increase was defeated 54 percent to 46 percent. Only about seven percent of registered township voters went to the polls.
Mike Gentry, Symmes Township trustee, said local officials weren't involved enough in the campaign.
“I'd hate for it to come to each individual government having its own system,” he said. “Then we'll have a mishmash of systems and we're going to be in the same situation where we can't talk to one another.”
But the swing votes seemed to come from Green, Delhi and Colerain townships, three traditionally conservative areas where the issue was defeated by more than 2,000 votes.
That outcome didn't surprise Nick LaScalea, vice president for the Delhi Township Board of Trustees.
“It's a good idea for all of us to talk about this,” Mr. LaScalea said. “We'll have to go over all the options we have and maybe come up with some kind of compromise.”
Mr. Bedinghaus declined to rule out the possibility of the issue appearing on a future ballot.
But Gene Beaupre, a political science professor at Xavier, said Tuesday was their best shot at passage of the tax.
“In a primary, you generally get a more informed electorate, and generally an older electorate,” Mr. Beaupre said. “I would think this issue would appeal to people who rely more on emergency services. It defies my instincts that it doesn't pass.”
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