WEST CHESTER TWP. — Leaders here are considering putting tax levies on the ballot next spring to build a large new library and to speed up development of a community recreation center.

        The township has projected $83 million in costs for parks and recreation development, including a $32 million community recreation center similar to those in Mason and Blue Ash. But it has received $5.9 million in the last year in donations toward the effort. Officials also have applied for some grants, but those require matching funds from the township.

        Without a park and recreation levy soon, future park improvements will continue at a snail's pace, said West Chester Trustee Dave Tacosik.

        “We have to seriously consider a parks and rec levy,” Mr. Tacosik told the other trustees at last week's meeting. “The rest of the community, I don't think, is going to be happy with this slow, drawn-out approach. Let's see what the interest is. The ultimate survey is a ballot.”

New library proposed

        Meanwhile, a committee with the Middletown Public Library System has proposed building a 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art library to serve booming West Chester and Liberty townships, possibly at the Voice of America Park in West Chester.

        Library officials released a community survey showing residents of both townships overwhelmingly want a new, bigger public library. The current 15,000-square-foot library, on Cox Road just south of Tylersville Road, has become the second-busiest library in Southwest Ohio, after Cincinnati/Hamilton County's main branch, and has no room for expansion, library officials say.

Vote is next step

        Library and township officials are proposing tax levies to pay for construction and operating costs. The next step is for trustees of West Chester and Liberty to vote on the issue.

        For the library, preliminary estimates show a 1.39 mill-tax levy for construction and library operations would generate about $2.6 million a year. For the owner of a $100,000 home, the levy would mean about $42 a year in new taxes. No estimates are yet available for West Chester's proposed park and recreation levy.

        While residents, especially young homeowners, say they want improved facilities and more green space, other citizens, notably senior citizens, oppose the levies. They complain the library proposal, which includes a cafeteria and drive-through windows, is too elaborate and wasteful. They also question the need for $83 million in parks and recreation development.

        “We are getting too big for our britches,” resident Allen Baxter said. “The plan around here seems to be, "Nothing is too good for West Chester.' And that's probably true if it's not your money.”

        While Noah Powers, president of the Middletown Public Library Board of Trustees, has publicly said he would like the levy to go on the November ballot, Liberty and West Chester trustees have yet to discuss the issue, so it is likely to go to voters no sooner than May 2003.

        Mr. Tacosik, however, says the library levy should either be voted on after the park levy, or perhaps go on the same ballot. He believes if both are up for vote at once, the parks levy will win out.

        A 10-member committee will be formed to study the possibility of a park levy and report back to the trustees. The committee, made up of nine trustee-appointed citizens and one trustee, is likely to be formally approved at the next trustee meeting, July 23.

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