FR will vote on two levies

FORT RECOVERY — When they fill out their ballots in November’s general election, Fort Recovery voters will be asked to renew two village tax levies.
A majority of the vote will be sought to renew two five-year levies intended for street repairs and general fund expenses.
A levy of 25 cents for each $100 dollars of valuation, village administrator Randy Diller said the streets levy brings in roughly $60,000 per year.
“It’s a five-year levy, so it’s been renewed a number of times. This is my 22nd year and it was here when I came so I don’t know when it actually started,” Diller said.
In the past, the village has used the funds for an array of road projects.
“We’ve used those funds for the obvious. The last few years, we’ve used it to put the streets back together after sewer separation project,” Diller said.
The village will be looking more into street reconstruction projects, he said. This summer, it completed a reconstruction project on Elm Street. It also does an annual asphalt overlay project.
“That is the most common use of it right there, that we use it to fix the streets that need it the worst,” Diller said.
The general fund levy runs at a rate of 23 cents per $100 of valuation and brings in about $56,000 a year, Diller said.
When originally passed, the levy was used mainly for safety costs, Diller said.
Being a general fund levy, the monies it brings in can go to a number of different things such as parks or Ambassador Pool, Diller said.
While on the ballot this year, Diller said the levies won’t “really take effect until the end of next year.”
According the ballot language, they each commence in 2017 and are first due beginning in 2018.
Putting them on the ballot now allows time for other options in case they don’t pass.
“It was suggested that we should do that in case it doesn’t pass, so we’re not immediately without. Because before we passed them in November and it started in January, so we didn’t really have any opportunities to do anything different,” he said.
However, the levies have received strong support previously.
“We’ve been very fortunate here in Fort Recovery over the years,” Diller said. “We’ve had a lot of public support for the programs and projects we’re trying to get down and hopefully people can see it.”