The levy would generate about $2 million annually. It would replace a 2.5-mill levy passed in the 1998, which generates about $1.4 million a year.

The additional funds would help add at least four extra Warren County Sheriff's deputies to the township's sheriff's substation, levy supporters say.

"It will be paying for one additional officer per shift, as well as helping to fund rising salaries and benefit costs," said Lynn Davis, co-chair of the Deerfield Police Levy Supporters. "It's a replacement levy. It's the same millage."

The levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 house a total of $75 a year, Davis said, an increase of about $25 per year.

Deerfield Township does not have its own police department, but contracts with the Warren County Sheriff to provide extra deputies to the township. Deerfield only pays about 70 percent of the cost of those deputies, with the sheriff's office funding the rest, Davis said.

But Deerfield Township Trustee Lee Speidel said the township should use its general fund to pay for the increased police services. He voted against putting the levy on the ballot.

"Deerfield Township is wasting far too much money in far too many ways to be raising taxes," Speidel said. "It's the oldest trick in the book to waste money on frivolities and then come back crying that your basic services are underfunded."

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