The Green Levy Campaign supporters are confident that the third time really is the charm as they work to get a 7-mill emergency property tax levy passed.

The levy was defeated Nov. 2, 2010 and May 3, 2011; the two previous levies asked for property and income tax increases, the new levy focuses only on the property tax.

“The word has been out there more this time. We’ve had a game plan. We have a grass roots committee, a media committee, a voters committee and a finance committee,” Erika Merrill, media committee chairperson, said. “We have made an effort to reach the community. We have designed T-shirts. We have been selling them and wearing them around the community. We have sold more than 250.”

The Green Levy Campaign has held various meetings regarding the levy. They have attended fire department meetings, township meetings and the senior citizen 55 plus club meeting. The campaign has also been setting up booths at home basketball games handing out brochures and discussing the details with the community.

“The media committee has created all the brochures, organized all the meetings and created flyers,” Merrill said. “They organized all the events and contacted businesses to distribute the flyers.”

Voters will pay less than 2 cents per day for every $1,000 of assessed taxable value. A property valued at $25,000 will cost 17 cents per day, or $61.25 each year. A property valued at $200,000 will cost $1.34 a day, or $490 per year. The 7-mill levy will bring in a total of $475,000.

The campaign has focused more on community involvement and awareness with the new levy.

Most recently the campaign sponsored a free bean and chili dinner to discuss items relating to the levy as well as answer any questions about the levy. Tom Reisner, Scioto county commissioner, was in attendance along with Scioto County Superintendent, Lowell Howard.

“Our superintendent and treasurer have attended all the meetings as well as take any phone calls anyone would have regarding the levy,” Merrill said.

The campaign has sent out newsletters to all residents in the district regarding the factual information about the levy. They are preparing to send out another newsletter to all residents this week, which will tell residents how they can find out what they would be required to pay if the tax increase passes.

“The grass roots committee has been making phone calls this week, they have received positive comments from community members,” Merrill said. “We have closed the gap from the previous attempts.”

Merrill believes that the support the campaign has received will produce a positive outcome on Tuesday.

“We have had tremendous support from our teachers and staff that have been involved and that reflects on our students, our parents and the community,” Merrill said.

 

Follow Chris Slone on Twitter: @Slone_Tribune