The levy generates about $4.64 million every year. This renewal will continue the same level of service and funding that the city currently has.
“It is a critical component of the streets program,” said Beavercreek’s Finance Director Bill Kucera.
The city plans to ask for a continuous levy on the May ballot. To get this streets levy on the ballot, city council will have to approve ballot language at its next meeting and then file the levy with the Greene County Board of Elections by the Feb. 3 deadline.
Beavercreek leaders said they have to seek alternative ways to fund a $200 million backlog of infrastructure needs after the city’s income tax request failed with about 52% voting against it. About 48% voted in favor of the 1% earned income tax that would have started collection on Jan. 1, 2022.
City leaders say the income tax would have kept the city from constantly coming to the people of Beavercreek for more money via property tax levies. Beavercreek is one of three cities in Ohio without an income tax; nearby Bellbrook is another.
City Manager Pete Landrum said the city had planned to use the roughly $14.5 million that would be generated from the income tax in the first year to replace a street levy set to expire at the end of 2021 and also help the city tackle long overdue infrastructure projects. Landrum said Beavercreek has a backlog of infrastructure projects that will cost close to $200 million to fix things like drainage, culverts, curbs and sidewalks in the city.
If voters don’t pass the 3.4-mill street levy as a continuous levy in May 2021, council members in December said they would want to put it back on the November ballot as a levy with a time limit.
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