Strasburg planning to ask residents to pay more for police protection
STRASBURG (May 5, 2022) – Village residents will likely be voting on a tax issue in the fall.
Council this week began the process of putting a 3.7-mill police protection levy on the November 8th ballot. Solicitor Terry Seeberger says it would replace the 1.5-mill tax voters last renewed in 2019.
“You’d still have a couple of years of collection on the 1.5. Council would immediately upon passage then pass a resolution to the auditor and treasurer asking that the 1.5-mill levy collection be suspended.
That levy would increase the yearly tax bill on a $100,000 home by $109 and collect almost five times more than the existing levy, which brings in a little over $50,000 annually. Police Chief Dave Warrick says the things they use it for cost a lot more now than they did when voters passed the tax back in the 90s.
“Prices of cruisers have jumped $10,000 to $15,000 just for a base model. That’s not including equipment. Ideally every two years, we’ll rotate one out so it’ll be about 8 to 10 years old before we retire it,” he says. “The current levy pays for a lot of things. Our fuel, training, IT maintenance is a big one, and it goes fast.”
Council President and Finance Committee Chairman Jeff Smith felt the increase was overdue.
“I think that what we’re receiving now is a little antiquated, and I think we need to go out and sell this and prove the police department is performing and doing what we’ve asked them to do.”
If council proceeds with the next steps and voters approve the tax in November, collections would begin next year.
CORRECTION: This story originally started that owner of a $100,000 would pay about $77 more annually. Finance Committee Chairman Jeff Smith has since confirmed that the tax would cost the same homeowner $129.50 annually, an increase of approximately $109.