PERRY TOWNSHIP – Township trustees are considering a police levy for the November ballot.

Trustee Chair Steve Bailey asked Fiscal Officer John Volio to get information from the county about what levies the township currently has in place for police funding, and what the impact would be of seeking replacement levies to update collections based on modern property valuations. He also asked Volio to find out when the deadline to have a potential levy placed on the ballot for November would be.

“I’d like to see a couple different things, Bailey said. “What levies we currently have for the police department and what a different millage would bring us in net revenue. All of the old levies, that’s why I want this information so we can have a little bit more to discus on it, they’re all based of off property tax values from 20 years ago. I think we need to look at what our options are, do we need to go out for a new levy?”

Bailey said that the police department has been operating at a budgetary deficit for the last several years amid continued rises in personnel and equipment costs year on year. In recent years the township has made up that shortfall with federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars from the general fund. But with ARP funding no longer available, other options to cover that shortfall need to be reviewed.

“The ARP money helped us get through a few years without doing anything, then we supplemented with the general fund. But all those expenses keep going up, if we can get that information we can start looking into what would be the best option,” said Bailey.

The trustees also discussed what to do with the township’s old John Deere mower with its new MowerMax mower slated to arrive Wednesday. Trustee Tony Ierepoli said he had been approached another township about potentially purchasing the John Deere mower directly for $50,000 rather than the township advertising it for auction. Ieropoli declined to disclose which township had made the offer until arrangements had been finalized.

“I feel that $50,000 is a good bid. We thought that we could get $40,000 to $60,000 depending on what bidders were out there, or it could be more or less than that. Also, with the auction you pay a fee…I feel that for the age of the mower going on 20 years and the use we got out of it, that $50,000 is a good offer,” said Ieropoli.

Bailey said that he felt that a guaranteed offer would be more beneficial to the township than to risk the inconsistency of an auction, and that he had spoken with the prosecutor’s office and confirmed the sale could be made directly if both townships’ boards of trustees passed the necessary resolutions. Both Bailey and Trustee Russ Sinsley also noted that they would be in favor of a direct sale as they wouldn’t have any additional fees as an auction would.

“I’d rather take money that we know we’re going to get than taking a chance and tossing it out there,” said Bailey.

While no official action was taken, the trustees agreed to proceed with requesting the necessary resolutions to potentially move forward with the sale of the mower in their next meeting.

During his report, Zoning Inspector Dan Bowers said that he issued 10 zoning permits and seven violations in April. He also reminded residents that with the weather improving, if they are doing any construction they should contact him for a permit.

“I’m getting a lot of people starting projects without permits getting busted. That’s what some of those violations are,” said Bowers.

Bowers also clarified that while the township doesn’t conduct inspections for new construction, they are still required, and residents need to contact the Columbiana County health department to conduct those inspections instead.

The board of trustees will meet next at 4 p.m. on May 11.