12-04-2025
New levy would help Geneva Township continue with Geneva Fire Department
GENEVA TOWNSHIP — Township officials are taking a new approach to fund the township's fire services through the Geneva Fire Department.
Three two-mill levies have failed, so the township decided to go to the voters with a 1.75 mill levy, Geneva Township Trustee Tim Mills said. He said the two-mill levy allowed the township to help the city with a little extra money here and there, but it is more important to pass the levy to provide the best service possible.
Mills said it is a challenge to put together millage that will work.
'I get the idea that people don't want to pay taxes,' he said.
The important thing to remember is the excellent service received from the Geneva Fire Department, Mills said.
He said the Geneva Fire Department does a lot of 'extra' services, ranging from education in the district schools, to assisting people locked out of vehicles, and even this year even helping remove snow from roofs.
'If it doesn't pass, we will have to do some cuts,' Mills said. 'We will have to reduce services.'
One of the challenges of potentially creating a township fire department would be purchasing fire trucks, and dealing with reduced response time.
He said the Geneva Fire Department response in the township is in the six to eight minute range, and that would likely increase to 16-20 minutes with a township department.
'A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds,' he said of the problems such a lengthy response could create for homeowners.
Mills said the fire department even comes to residents' homes if they are unable to change a smoke detector themselves.
'All that stuff would probably go away,' he said.
If the levy funds are not approved, the rest of the township services could be hurt as well, Mills said.
'We'd have to buy stuff out of our general fund,' he said.
Mills said he is proud of the township's snow removal record, and that could suffer, as more money would have to be devoted to a potential township fire department.
The township does have a building that could house a fire truck, but the purchase of new trucks is very expensive, and functional used trucks are hard to find, he said.
The national fire service ISO rating could also suffer, resulting in possible higher insurance rates for area businesses and homes.
'Our iso rating with the Geneva Fire Department is a three,' Mills said. 'On a volunteer department, that could be a six or an eight.'
Early in-person voting started April 8, and absentee voting by mail also started the same day. Election Day is May 6, with polls open from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
