By Scott Halasz
SPRING VALLEY TOWNSHIP — Spring Valley Township voters unofficially turned down an additional levy to cover operating expenses.
Preliminary results show that Issue 13 was defeated 841-688 Tuesday.
The additional 1-mill levy would have generated $84,000 annually for five years and cost the owner of a $100,000 home $35 per year, according to county records. The township had not asked for new money from township and village residents in decades, Fiscal Officer Kitty Crockett said, but it has tried to pass this levy since May 2015 because of cuts in local government funding and the estate tax.
The township does have one active operating levy, but it only produces $6,000 a year.
The general fund covers township administration, zoning, salaries, animal and mosquito control, the park and the library. Crockett previously said the township has to pay salaries and provide zoning services. Everything else is done at the discretion of the township trustees.
“We’ve done away with just about everything,” Crockett said in October. “The last couple things is the parks. Not sure what the trustees would do. It may lead to our softball program being not there anymore.”
Mosquito control has been cut for two years, but there is a concern because of Zika, Crockett said.
The levy was defeated, 549-477, in November 2015 and 151-128 in May 2015.
“We’ll continue to try,” Crockett said when asked in October what the township would do if the issue fails again.
She was not available for comment as of press time Tuesday.
