North Royalton voters will see an EMS levy on the May 3 ballot, as the North Royalton City Council adopted legislation 6-0 at its February 1 meeting. Ward 4 Council Representative Jeremy Dietrich was absent from that meeting.
The legislation was the second step necessary to place the measure on the May ballot. The first piece of legislation, which declares the necessity of the replacement, was unanimously adopted at the January 18 meeting, after Fire Chief Bob Chegan’s presentation to the Council Safety Committee on the proposed 1.7 mill replacement levy for EMS services. Council needed to adopt the second ordinance on February 1, in order to place it on May’s ballot, as the expiration to file ballot issues for that election was February 2, at 4 p.m.
Chegan talked about the Fire Department’s master plan and how the goal is to decrease response time. “We should be able to get there in less than four minutes,” he noted. North Royalton covers twenty-two square miles with 32,500 residents, 20 percent of which are 65 and older. Chegan said that they look to see what is best for the community when it comes to fire and emergency medical services, but went on to state that, “We can’t run more calls with less people.” He showed the increase in call volume over the past, starting with 1,400 runs in 1992. He noted that the Department experienced a jump of more than 500 runs from 2020 to 2021 to about 4,000 runs, while utilizing the same manpower they had in 2006, when station 2 opened, where they ran about 2,300 runs. When asked how Covid affected those numbers, Chegan stated it was not that much, but what was more impactful were calls from a senior development that was recently constructed. With the opening of another senior development, he stated that the numbers are expected to be even more. The Department runs increased 13% over the past year, 22% over the past three years, and 16% over the past five years. Chegan stated that in order to provide quality service, they need the manpower.
If passed, the five-year, 1.7 mill EMS levy will replace the current 1.7 mill levy which expires at the end of 2022. The new levy will then take the place of the old levy. The new levy will raise taxes, as it will be a replacement, rather than a renewal. The levy continues to help pay for the program, helping to fund the salaries of the City’s firefighters/paramedics, equipment and operation of that part of the Fire Department
The levy was started in the late 1980s, when the North Royalton Fire Department was expanding their department to include Emergency Management Services (EMS). According to Chegan, this EMS levy was first established in 1989 at 1.2 mills. A new 1.7 mill levy was passed in 1993 and has been renewed every five years until 2017, at which time it was replaced.
If the levy issue passes, the new levy will be collected starting in 2023. According to North Royalton Finance Director Jenny Esarey, the current cost of the EMS levy per $100,000 of home valuation is $47.60 per year. If passed, the new EMS levy will cost $59.50 per year per $100,000 of home valuation. She said that if the levy is adopted, it will generate $339,953 more per year than the current levy.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer