MetroParks will seek a levy for funds that make up 80 percent of its budget

The fountains at RiverScape MetroPark. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

The fountains at RiverScape MetroPark. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

Five Rivers MetroParks this fall will ask voters to approve a replacement levy that will increase property taxes and generate about $18 million annually.

The Five Rivers MetroParks Board of Park Commissioners today approved placing on the Nov. 6 ballot a 1.8-mill levy with an additional 0.2 mills, which will be voted on by Montgomery County voters.

The 10-year levy would replace the park system’s current levy, which expires at the end of 2019. Levy funds account for about 80 percent of the MetroParks’ revenue.

“This is critical to MetroParks because our levies are temporary and only good for 10 years, and our current levy will be expiring,” said Alan Pippenger, president of the Board of Park Commissioners.

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The MetroParks levy that voters approved in 2009 originally raised about $17.9 million per year, and the replacement levy will raise about $18.1 million per year, Pippenger said.

With additional millage, the replacement levy would cost the standard owner about of a $100,000 home about $70 annually, the parks said.

“It’s not that much more than the levy we passed 10 years ago,” he said.

The levy are crucial to MetroParks, and the park system plans to spend the next 10 years protecting its assets and what citizens value and focusing on community priorities, officials said.

MetroParks went through a comprehensive process to develop a 10-year master plan for the park system that included lots of public feedback, Pippenger said.

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