LEETONIA — Village council discussed safety forces funding in the wake of voters’ denial of a proposed 0.5% income tax increase in exchange for discontinuing collection of village property tax in its May 6 meeting.

“What happened [on May 5] is an enormous loss. It really is, and I’m trying to impress upon you the effect it’s going to have on this village,” Fiscal Officer Nick Mistovich said.

The failure of the proposed tax, which was estimated to have netted the village an additional $400,000 annually if approved by voters, was described by Mistovich as disastrous for the financial stability of the village’s emergency services, with Mayor Kevin Siembida stating that the village council would face “some hard choices” on how to handle the issue.

Mistovich said that without some way to supplement their income, both the fire department and EMS service are projected to run deficits this year which will have to be plugged with money from the village’s general fund. The police department, which is funded wholesale through the general fund, continues to struggle with personnel expenses.

These funding challenges place the village’s EMS service in an especially precarious position, as unlike the police and fire department, Leetonia is not required to maintain a dedicated village EMS service by Ohio law.

“[The tax] would have saved the general fund. The police department would have went into their own fund, we would have covered the losses on EMS and fire. We could easily have done that with that $375,00 to $400,000 tax increase, and instead we’re left to our own devices,” Mistovich said.

Mistovhich said that so far this year the village’s EMS service had lost $12,816 and was projected to lose between $35,000 to $50,000 this year, and that while EMS Chief Robert Sanchez was looking for any places to cut expenses there were currently no feasible means of increasing the department’s revenue. He explained that even if the department were to raise its prices, most insurance companies have a set price they will pay for those services regardless of what is billed, which is typically around $455. That figure only accounts for calls where the department is paid at all, which Mistovich said only represents about half of their calls since village residents aren’t charged for EMS services.

“You can charge whatever you want, but insurance companies are only going to reimburse you for whatever they think they should be paying. We’re averaging about $455 for billing. I met with the person from Medicount and Sanchez, and I said ‘can we increase our billing from $455 to something higher’ and she said ‘no, you look like you’re at a pretty good rate right now.’ So basically that door is closed,” Mistovich said.

Mistovich said that while the fire department was “a little more break even” in its operating costs, he is still projecting the department to lose approximately $21,000 in 2026. Mistovich attributed that shortfall to the fixed nature of the department’s funding sources with rising expenses across the board.

The police department has an operational budget for 2026 of $451,880, which doesn’t include the village’s contribution to police pensions of $36,860, for a total annual cost of $488,740 from the general fund. It is a cost which Mistovich said still wasn’t sufficient to keep the department staffed consistently, with the department’s average rate of $23.50 per hour unable to compete with neighboring departments.

“We find ourselves to be non-competitive. We have something of a revolving door here with police. When I started here about four years ago, we had an average rate of $15.50, and we’ve gotten up to $23. We can’t compete. We bring these guys in, they work for a year or two and then they go. Again, it’s a devastating thing where this tax would have helped us to raise some of these rates, relieve the general fund, maybe even hire another policeman, who knows,” Mistovich said.

Village Council President J.R. Ferry said that he felt responsibility for the failure of the tax ultimately fell on village leaders for not doing more to ensure that residents understood the situation. He argued that the village should present the question to voters again in the next election and make sure they understand that the income tax increase would be mitigated by the reduction in property tax, as well as the potential ramifications of it failing for the second time including the possible dissolution of village EMS services.

“I think we need to have a couple of council meetings up at the library, tell the community what [Mistovich] just showed us, and say ‘if this doesn’t pass, don’t be surprised if EMS goes belly up and we close the doors.’ I don’t mean to threaten them but see if we can get the community up there to see that the average person is going to save $43.50, and a retiree is going to save $198 because most people probably thought it was going to cost them more,” Ferry said. “I think we need to try to get it on but put it out there two months in advance. Put it in the water bill that we’re having a meeting up at the library, try to get as many people up there as possible, old, young, whatever, to explain that if this doesn’t pass our EMS is probably going to be the first thing to go, and this is what you’re actually going to pay or save.”

The village council will meet next at 6:30 p.m. on May 20.