By Tara Figurski
Staff Writer
The Truro Township trustees have placed a levy on the May 6 ballot.
Voters are being asked to approve the same levy they defeated in November.
If the .75 mill levy is approved by voters, it would cost the homeowner of a $100,000 home about $26.25 a year in additional taxes. The levy is needed to balance the general fund budget. This is the first time the township has asked for a levy for the general fund, township officials said previously.
Trustees Barbara Strussion and Pat Mahaffey approved placing the levy on the ballot while trustee Mike Shirey voted against it. Shirey proposed trustees take a pay cut before he could approve the legislation. Trustees earn $20,568 a year.
“We are going to the public and asking for more money,” Shirey said. “We have made cuts just about everywhere they can be made. If we are asking for more money then we have to show that we are part of the solution.”
Shirey said he could not approve the legislation unless the trustees agreed to take a pay decrease prior to the vote. Even though he voted against the levy, he said he was not opposed to going on the ballot in May.
“It is a good gesture on our parts to do this,” Shirey said. “I’m standing firm on that.”
The trustees expressed a willingness to consider taking a pay cut at some point in the future, Shirey said, but weren’t ready to commit to the pay decrease right now.
Strussion said the trustees are willing to consider a decrease in salary, but needed more time to discuss the decrease because it also affects the township’s fiscal officer’s salary.
“I said that I am not opposed to it,” Strussion said. “We have to discuss that in length.”
Strussion said the township needs the increase. The levy would be assessed on the taxable value of property not the market value.
She said voters should go to the Franklin County auditor’s website, select the Truro Township levy and type in their address to see how much more money they would be paying a year if the levy is passed.
“We really need this just to keep the township on an even keel,” Strussion said. “It’s not for fire (services) but will affect all of the other departments.”
Residents can visit the Franklin County Auditor website, conduct a property search on their property. Left hand side there will be link for current levy information. Click on that link and it will bring up the levies for the next election. List Truro Township levy and a rough estimate of the increase.
