Delaware County’s older residents can rest assured the services they depend on will continue after SourcePoint’s easy win at the polls May 8.
The county’s senior-services levy passed effortlessly, with unofficial results from the Delaware County Board of Elections showing 15,219 votes (72 percent) for the levy and 5,807 votes (28 percent) against it, with 45 of 159 precincts reporting on Election Night.
The current levy costs residents $32.13 annually per $100,000 of property value, according to the Delaware County Auditor’s Office. With the passage of the five-year, 1.2-mill renewal levy and 0.1-mill increase, residents will pay an additional $3.50 annually per $100,000 of property value.
About 80 percent of SourcePoint’s funding comes from its levy, with the remainder coming from donations, fees, grants and other sources.
The current levy generates about $8.4 million in revenue per year; the new levy will raise about $9.1 million annually.
The levy supports myriad services aimed at senior citizens, from the Meals on Wheels program (which served about 1,700 people in 2017) to courses and education for seniors and their caregivers, to activities and gatherings at SourcePoint’s Delaware headquarters.
In January, county Commissioner Jeff Benton said he and SourcePoint Executive Director Robert Horrocks worked to craft a levy request that would impact county taxpayers as little as possible while recognizing SourcePoint’s growing needs.
“I think we worked out the best resolution we can have and the fairest thing to the taxpayers of the county,” he said.
Commissioner Gary Merrell said he views SourcePoint as a “wonderful resource for our county.”
“There’s a lot of really good people over there doing good things,” he said.
County residents last saw a senior-services ballot issue in May 2013, when voters overwhelmingly approved SourcePoint’s current 1.2-mill levy. By state law, the terms of senior-services levies cannot exceed five years.
Berlin voters overrule trustees on industrial park, concrete plant
In Berlin Township, voters decided to reverse the township board of trustees’ rezoning resolution that would have allowed an industrial park and concrete plant to be built on 24 acres at 5427 state Route 37 E., at the northwest corner of Route 37 and North Old State Road.
Unofficial election results showed 948 "no" votes (67 percent) to overrule the board of trustees, with 462 "yes" votes (33 percent) supporting the board's decision.
The referendum faced a roller-coaster path to the ballot, with the count board of elections ruling it ineligible in January, due to its wording, only to have that decision overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court in March.
Tri-Township voters say yes; Delaware Township voters say no
Also on the ballot, Tri-Township voters said “yes” to the fire department’s five-year, 0.9-mill levy with a vote of 901 (72 percent) to 347 (28 percent).
However, in Delaware Township, a five-year, 0.8-mill renewal levy for road repair and construction failed with a vote of 311 against the levy (56 percent) to 245 (44 percent).
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