Voters Turn Down 911 Tax

Liberty Township (Trumball County, OH) voters have voted down a 1.25-mill property tax levy that would have raised $250,000 a year to keep their public safety comm center operating. The vote was close–1,600 voted for the measure, but 1,675 voted against it. The center costs about $280,000 a year to operate, but township officials are looking to reduce costs, and so they proposed the tax hike or moving dispatching operations to the county for about $125,000 a year. Township trustees said they might give the ballot measure another shot in 2008, but meanwhile will have to find funds to keep their local center operating.