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City Income Levy Rejected by Chillicothe Voters
< < Back to city-income-levy-rejected-chillicothe-votersFor the first time in 22 years, voters in Chillicothe were asked to consider a city income tax increase.
The levy failed 53.5 percent voting against it and 46.5 percent voting for it.
The levy would have increased the city income tax from 1.6% to 2%, totaling 0.4%.
"We're trying to replace two grants that we lost. We lost those two grants because they migrated to the big cities with the crime that they have,” Chillicothe Mayor Jack Everson said.
According to Everson, because the levy was rejected as many as a dozen city employees of the police and fire departments could lose their jobs and two fire stations will likely close.
“We take a step back; we don't get any roads improved, we don't have money for that in our current budget, the police and fire department shrink and the overall effectiveness of the number of boots on the ground that takes to get the job done is diminished," said Everson.
A portion of the levy will also go to repairs and maintenance of roadways.
Chillicothe resident Connie Meyer says the roadways in Chillicothe are a huge problem. "All you have to do is drive down any of them and you will find that they are all in need of repair to one degree or another,” said Meyer.
Everson says he believes Chillicothe residents do not understand how big of an impact this levy has on the city. "When it's gone that's when people will wake up and say hey we really lost something special here."