Strasburg voters deciding on revised police levy
STRASBURG (Nov. 1, 2023) – Village leaders are hoping voters will be more receptive to the police levy on their ballots in this election.
Issue 30 is a five-year-replacement and increase that would collect around $125,000 more annually for policing-related expenses. Mayor Steve Smith says the current levy from 1994 brings in around $50,000 a year for equipment, and everything else comes out of the village’s general fund.
“The village is asking for assistance to free up some of the funds in the general fund that we could devote to other things such as more paving, things like that we can’t do because right now the money is dedicated to supporting the police department.”
If the levy passes, the yearly tax bill on a $100,000 home would go up by about $60 compared to more than $100 under the proposal voters rejected in the last two elections.
“We did make an adjustment from the last time that we put the levy on. We dropped the increase down to 0.8-mill. We thought since we failed on the last two attempts we thought we’d decrease the amount of increase we were asking people to pay for.”
The tax the levy would replace expires after this year, so the village will be responsible for the police department’s entire budget if it doesn’t pass.