Trustees unanimously approved doing so to maintain ongoing fire district operations. The replacement levy would generate an estimated $2.4 million annually, an increase of $384,396 more than the current levy set to expire, said Trustee John Morris, who described it as “a path forward.”
The owner of a $100,000 home pays $88.74 a year in taxes under the existing levy, according to the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office. Under the replacement levy, an owner of a $100,000 home would pay $127.75 per year, the auditor’s office said.
The five-year deal that started the Miami Valley Fire District in 2012 for Miami Twp. and Miamisburg to share fire and emergency medical services was made permanent in 2017.
The projected revenue of the replacement levy is based on the new, revised property tax rate/values that came back through from the state through the county in December, according to Finance Director Clay McCord. “They’re the most current and most accurate projections we have at this time having just come off that triennial update,” McCord said.
A separate 3.5 mill fire/EMS levy in the township does not expire until 2023.
Miami Twp. Trustee Terry Posey Jr., the community’s representative on the fire district board, said the staffs of Miami Twp. and Miamisburg have been working on permanent funding options, which is one of the original contemplations of the agreement that resulted in the fire district.
Though the district is a joint-funded effort between Miamisburg and Miami Twp., the latter bears the bulk of the responsibility of funding through its two levies, Morris said. Miamisburg has one fire/EMS levy and supplements its required portion to the fire district from the general fund, which is generally derived from the city’s income tax, Posey said.
Posey said the fire district board anticipates being able to present to trustees a joint district funding model sometime in the next four to eight weeks. By the spring, the board expects to be able to determine where permanent financing is headed.
By doing so, the levies in both Miamisburg and Miami Twp. would, in effect, go away and be replaced by the new funding model, Morris said.
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