Woodlawn voters on Tuesday approved an income tax hike that will help finance new fire department equipment and other village operating expenses.

        Only about 10 percent of eligible voters went to the polls, with the measure passing, 163 votes to 74.

        The tax increase, to 2 percent annually from 1.4 percent, will generate about $1 million for the village, which was strapped in the past two years by new fire department equipment that cost $600,000. Still, the village wants to replace a 9-year-old life squad unit.

        It is the first increase in the tax in 27 years, Mayor Susan Upton Farley said.

        “It's very good news for us — we haven't had a raise in three years,” said Woodlawn Fire Department Deputy Chief Rick Mynatt. “And we need the new life squad. We had about 1,000 EMS runs (last year), and when it breaks down, which is happening more often, we have to borrow from Evendale.”

        Elsewhere, voters in Clermont and Butler counties rejected two school measures — a land swap in Clermont and an additional tax levy in Butler County.

        • Sixty-three percent of Edgewood Schools voters in Butler County rejected a 6.9-mill levy that would have generated about $2.13 million annually, the second time in three months voters there turned down a levy request.

        The vote was 2,130 against and 1,230 for, with 33 percent of the 10,334 registered voters going to the polls.

        Edgewood Superintendent Dale Robertson said the board of education will schedule a special meeting in the next two weeks to decide whether the issue should be resubmitted to voters at the May 8 election.

        Voters last approved an operating levy in 1987.

        • About 7,000 registered voters in Clermont County's Northeastern Schools overwhelmingly rejected a transfer of about 110 acres held by six property owners into the West Clermont Schools District.

        The vote was 1,676 against and 184 for the transfer.

        The turnout was 24 percent. If it had passed, the measure still would have been subject to approval by the West Clermont school board.

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