Trending
LISBON -- The Columbiana County Park District is again asking voters to approve an additional .35-mill, five-year tax levy, but this time covering all of the county under the name Columbiana County Regional Park District.
"We now cover the entire county," park district board Chairman Eileen Dray-Bardon said when contacted by phone.
The park district is one of a handful of entities that filed paperwork with the county Board of Elections by the Wednesday deadline to appear on the March 19 primary ballot.
Other issues to appear on the ballot include two five-year road levy renewals of 2 mills and 0.5 mills for Madison Township and a local liquor option requesting Sunday sales for Wellsville American Legion Post 70 Inc. and Patio.
Dray-Bardon said the additional parks levy, if approved, will generate $800,000 to $900,000 per year and cost the average taxpayer about $12 per year.
"It's not a big request, but it would certainly mean a lot to the park district," she said.
The levy last appeared on the ballot in November 2022 and lost. At that time, the village of Rogers and Middleton, Knox and Liverpool townships were not part of the park district so voters there didn't get to vote on the levy. According to Dray-Bardon, when the park district was first formed by county commissioners in 1974, those communities for some reason didn't pass resolutions to join the district.
That has changed effective this year. Dray-Bardon said she visited those entities and the park board had to file requests to annex those entities into the district through county Probate Court. She said a hearing was held and Probate Court Judge Thomas Baronzzi ruled in the park board's favor.
So residents in Rogers and the townships of Middleton, Knox and Liverpool will get to vote on the levy and if approved, get to pay the taxes the levy is expected to generate to pay for park operations and maintenance.
Dray-Bardon said the only definite income the district gets comes from $15,000 received every year from the Local Government Fund, which comes from state money and is distributed to all the subdivisions and the county. Through a gas lease arrangement several years ago, the district gained some money to work with but that is now dwindling. The cash balance is now about $135,000, she said.
The district operates Scenic Vista Park which covers 250-plus acres in Center Township and includes an 18-hole disc golf course, hiking trails and pavilion, Hellbender Bluff Park covering 800 acres in Madison Township, 12 miles of Little Beaver Creek Greenway Trail stretching from Lisbon to Washingtonville and the historical Ohio Supreme Court meeting site marker on state Route 7 in Fairfield Township.
Besides Dray-Bardon of Rogers, other board members include Tom Butch of Salem, attorney Tim Brookes of East Liverpool, Dave Hughes of Salem and Dottie Betz of Wellsville.