Latest news with #FireLevy
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Geneva Township fire levy passes
JEFFERSON — A 1.75-mill Geneva Township Fire Levy passed Tuesday by a vote of 196-124, assuring continued fire coverage by the Geneva Fire Department, according to unofficial results from the Ashtabula County Board of Elections. The levy will used predominantly to pay the Geneva Fire Department for fire coverage. 'I'm happy as I can be. I want to thank all the township residents that voted for it,' Geneva Township Trustee Tim Mills said. He said it is great that the township will continue to get fantastic service from the Geneva Fire Department. The township reduced the levy to 1.75 mills after a two-mill levy failed three times, Mills said. He said the township decided to reduce the levy in hopes of providing a better chance at passage. He said he is not sure why the levy failed three times, but thought maybe the .25 mill reduction may have helped this time. The two-mill levy provided the township with some extra money to assist the Geneva Fire Department, but the new levy money will leave a couple thousand of dollars extra, Mills said. He said he understood people don't want to pay taxes, but the coverage provided by the Geneva Fire Department goes beyond what the township could provide on its own. Mills said the Geneva Fire Department provides a lot of extras as well. He said the department provides education opportunities through the schools, helped remove snow from roofs during the Thanksgiving weekend snow storm and even assist people who have locked themselves out of their vehicles. Mills said the township would have had to reduce services if the levy had not passed. He said money that goes to other services, especially road maintenance, would have had to go to fire services. In addition, the township would have had to buy fire trucks and turnout gear, Mills said. He also said the response time would have been a problem, as a fire doubles in size every 30 seconds. County-wide, Ashtabula County Board of Elections Director John Mead said there were no issues. 'Everything went really well,' he said. Mead said no issue on the ballot was close enough to trigger an automatic recount. According to unofficial results, voter turnout was 13.7% for the election. Mead was thankful for the people who came out to vote and for the poll workers, who were on the job this election, he said. 'We'll do it all again in November,' he said. By Friday, the board of elections had 728 people vote early at its Jefferson office. Mead said the board received 44 more early votes Saturday and 46 Sunday.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fayette County fire budgets discussed at meeting of county commission
FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WVNS) – Members of the community and fire service personnel packed the house at a Wednesday meeting of the Fayette County Commission where commissioners addressed budgets for county fire departments. Recently announced cuts to the Fayette County Fire Levy budget have sparked local debate, with the Fayette County Firefighter's Association asserting that plans to cut nearly half of fire department levy funding creates an unprecedented danger to the community. While individual department budgets were touched on at points during the meeting, little was said specifically to address overall cuts to the Fire Levy budget itself, which Fayette County Commission President John Breneman says will still remain in effect. Local fire service members said they are frustrated and feel that their concerns are not being addressed by commission members in a meaningful way.'We try having a dialogue with them to try to see what these departments need,' said Fayette County Firefighters Association Vice President, Joshua Davis. 'It's really hard to get a dialogue started with them – a seat at the table to try to talk this out.' Despite these frustrations from fire personnel, Brenemen told 59News everyone was given a platform to make their voices heard. 'We gave them an opportunity to ask questions – very few questions were asked,' he said. 'I think that we met the concerns that they had.' Fayette County Fire Departments will continue to utilize funding from the previous levy balance over the next three years. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
