Thursday, December 09, 1999
Colerain sees need for road levy
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLERAIN TOWNSHIP — Trustees likely will decide at their Tuesday meeting to place a road levy on the March ballot.
The township at year's end will be operating without a road levy since voters defeated a continuous 2-mill road levy that was on the November ballot. The new levy would have replaced the one expiring at the end of the year.
“I don't know that we have any alternative,” said Trustee Joseph Wolterman. The other two trustees, Keith Corman and Diana Lynn Rielage, are in agreement.
The trustees would have considered a road levy at their Nov. 30 meeting but waited while the Hamilton County Auditor's office calculated what different millages would raise under the new property tax assessments.
A 1.67-mill road levy would generate about $1.69 million for the township, which is what the 2-mill levy would have generated under the old assessments.
A 1.5-mill levy would generate about $1.5 million, and a 1-mill levy would raise just over $1 million.
“I don't know what the board will do. We'll have to talk about it,” said Dennis Chapman, public works director for the township. “It's the board's decision.”
The expiring 1.5-mill road levy generated about $850,000, and accounted for one-third of the township's road budget. The rest comes from the general fund, and auto and gasoline taxes.
“Obviously, if we have to continue to operate on two-thirds of the road budget, down the road we would have to make massive cuts,” Mrs. Rielage said.
The township has added more than 10 miles of roads in the past 10 years (the township has 102 miles of roads). Mr. Chapman said the township has been able to obtain grants for roadwork totaling about $8 million over the past five years using road levy money as matching funds.
Mr. Chapman said he would also favor putting the levy on the March ballot, as opposed to waiting until next November, while the issue is still fresh in people's minds.
“People need to be aware of how we take this money and double it and triple it where we can with leveraged grants,” said Mr. Wolterman.
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