A levy is on the November ballot for the Tri-Valley Joint Fire District

DRESDEN, Ohio – As the November election draws closer, a local fire department wants to clarify the ballot language that can affect their funding.

The Tri-Valley Joint Fire District covers the village of Dresden, Jefferson, and Cass townships in Muskingum County and covers Washington Township in Coshocton County. The fire district has a ballot issue to place a 3 mill property tax which will replace all the existing fire and EMS levies in those areas.

“We’ll replace the current tax that we have on as the Dresden Fire Department will become Tri-Valley Fire District where everybody in the fire district will be taxed the same amount. When we merged as a fire district, this gives all the townships the say in the fire department, so they’re in essence part owner of the fire department,” Fire Chief Harold Wolford said.

With rising costs and a harder time finding volunteers, the district says the levy will help maintain current services, stabilize funding, and improve response time. With all that in mind, the members of the fire district want to clarify what the ballot language means.

“The one big thing is when voters go to the polls, their going to see this reads as the additional tax and while it is a new levy, so it is additional, the current levies when this is passed, the current levies will be rolled back to a zero percent effective rate. So those in the village of Dresden, Jefferson Township, and Cass Township will not pay their current fire levies when this levys passed. They will only pay the new 3 mill continuous levy,” Assistant Fire Chief Matt Salmons said.

More information on the levy can be found on the Tri-Valley Joint Fire District’s website.