If voters approve the recreation levy on May 2, property owners would pay $52.50 per $100,000 of appraised value, an increase of $25.73 a year, according to the Montgomery County Auditor’s office. The levy would generate about $3.28 million annually, an increase of $1.33 million per year. Collection would start in 2024, as a five-year, 1-mill recreation levy expires this year.
Revenues from the levy pay for programs and services for all ages and abilities in aquatics, camps, fitness, sports and the arts. That includes the fitness center, walking track, climbing wall, pools and waterslides, summer camps, senior center, Town Hall Theatre and more, according to Mark Metzger, recreation director for Washington Twp. RecPlex.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
The additional revenue would cover increased operational costs and help to improve infrastructure, such as adding permanent bathrooms and expanding water access in Countryside Park, and building picnic shelters to better serve park users, camps and sports leagues.
Township officials said additional levy funds would also allow for replacing an aging HVAC system at the RecPlex, resurfacing parking lots, updating a women’s locker room and incorporating family locker rooms. They also would help replace transportation vehicles for senior and youth programs, repair the foundation and restroom at Town Hall and replace bleachers in the pool area.
User fees, memberships and grants provide a portion of the township’s recreation budget, with the recreation levy revenues providing the rest.
“A good chunk of it is just being used to maintain the existing services and buildings that we have now,” Metzger said. “Then there’s a part of it ... that is specifically targeted in our minds towards places where investment needs to happen.”
Some of that is at Countryside Park, where other levy-funded improvements would include widening park trails, creating an accessible fishing pier on the front pond and making upgrades to the A-Frame shelter.
Levy funds also ensure the recreation department can recruit and retain qualified and professional staff, officials said.
The former YMCA purchased by the township in 1988 and now known as Washington Twp. RecPlex covers nearly 33 acres and about 86,000 square feet of building space that includes RecPlex East, RecPlex West, Town Hall and Countryside Park.
Washington Twp. provides recreation services for all township residents, including Centerville, and all residents are able to vote on recreation levies.
Metzger said Washington Twp. doesn’t only rely on taxpayer dollars to fund recreation activities. It also secures alternate funding via grants. In the past five years, the township secured more than $1 million in grant funding, revenue that helped renovate Town Hall and is set aside for revitalizing Turtle Pond and Bass Lake. That money also allowed the township to add an accessible ramp to Santa’s Cabin, resurface the playground, replace the pool deck, add new pool features, purchase pool deck furniture and purchase an aquatic wheelchair.
May 2 fire tax levy
Also on the ballot I the May 2 election is a five-year, 4.65-mill renewal fire levy. If approved, it would take the place of a 5-year, 4.65-mill fire levy that will expire at the end of the year.
The levy helps provide and maintain apparatus, equipment, appliances, buildings and sites, as well as payment to full- and part-time firefighters, EMTs and other personnel.
If approved, it would cost the owner of a $100,000 property $115.31 each year, according to the Montgomery County Auditor’s office, no increase from the existing rate. The levy would generate $8.5 million in revenue per year for the fire department.
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