Fire district board members have said the various ways services are funded by the city and the township makes a solution complex. Fire Chief Matt Queen agreed.
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If “it’s a district-wide levy, it’s going to affect a greater number of people,” he said. “It’s going to take some time to educate people on.”
Miami Twp.’s population is about 30,000, about a third of whom voted in the Nov. 6 election, according to the Montgomery County Board of Elections.
More than 71 percent of Miami Twp. voters backed the fire levy renewal. It was the most supported of the more than 20 tax issues in Montgomery County on the Nov. 6 ballot for which at least 2,500 ballots were cast, according to the board of elections results.
“We work really hard to provide excellent service in the community,” Queen said, “and try to be good stewards of taxpayer funds and provide then services they want.”
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Miami Twp. Board of Trustees President John Morris said “the people in our community feel safe. And they know that their investments in the fire and police departments are a good return on their investment.”
The city has about 20,000 people and had a similar percentage of voter turnout this month, records show.
In 2017, results of a study commissioned on the fire district found 67 percent of all residents and 82 percent of firefighters surveyed found it favorable.
The survey was completed before the vote to continue the merger first approved in 2012 and noted that both district employees and citizens “believe that a fire district is the best approach to providing service and should be permanent.”
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Sixty-one percent of surveyed residents indicated approval of how tax dollars are being used for the fire district. The district, which will have a budget of about $9.5 million for 2019, is operating at about the same funding levels from a decade ago, Queen said.
In addition to the township levy approved this month, revenue streams for the fire district include:
• A 3.65-mill township levy
• A 3.5-mill city levy
• Money from Miamisburg’s general fund
• Funds collected through EMS billing
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