City Council adopted legislation at its July 18 meeting that will place a replacement levy on the November 7 election. The five-year, $1.7 mill EMS levy would replace the current $1.7 mill levy which expires at the end of 2018. If passed, the city will collect an additional $639,553. This will be the second time that this issue would be on the ballot.
The levy continues to help pay for the program, helping to fund the salaries of the city’s thirty firefighters/paramedics, equipment and operation of that part of the Fire Department.
Last November, the five-year, $1.7 mill EMS levy, Issue 73, which would have replaced the current $1.7 mill levy which expires at the end of 2018. The collection for this levy would then have begun in 2019. That measure failed, with 7,293 voting for and 7,435 voting against the levy.
The replacement levy is used when the effective rate has been lowered through time. It can restore the effective rate of the tax, back to its original rate, which then generates increased dollars. It raises more revenue than the levy it replaces, as the original levy may have been through one or more renewal, which as happened with the EMS levies. With each renewal, if the value of real property had increased, the tax credit factor will have been applied to the voted levy, reducing the effective rate.
“We’re just trying to recapture the millage of the original levy, that was passed decades ago,” said Mayor Bob Stefanik. “The city has grown, but the levy has remained the same.”
The levy was started in the late 1980s, when the North Royalton Fire Department was expanding their department to include Emergency Management Services (EMS). The original millage was passed by voters at $1.2 mills. The levy was renewed in 2002, began collection in 2003, and expired in 2008. At that point, voters were asked to pass a replacement levy at $1.7 mills, which started collection in 2009. North Royalton voters last passed the levy in May, 2013, which was a renewal.
According to North Royalton Finance Director, Eric Dean, “the city currently has six active safety levies. The last levy passed was 15 years ago in 2001 and was a renewal of an existing levy. The original levies’ cost 38% less than at the full rate when passed.”
The first resolution was unanimously adopted that requests certification of the County Fiscal Officer to certify the city’s total current tax valuation and the amount of money that would be generated by the replacement of an existing $1.7 mill levy for EMS service.
Now that the legislation has been passed, the issue will be submitted to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to be placed on the November 7 ballot. The deadline to place the measure on the ballot is August 9.
If passed, 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. According to Dean, the current cost of the EMS levy per $100,000 of home valuation is $2.57 per month, totaling $30.84 per year. If passed, the new EMS levy will cost $4.96 per month, totaling $59.50 per year per $100,000 of home valuation.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer