By A. Kevin Corvo
Reporter

Voters in Jackson Township will be asked on the Nov. 4 ballot to consider a 4-mill renewal fire levy to fund the operating costs of the Jackson Township Fire Department.

The fire levy will appear as Issue #36 on the ballot.

Jackson Township has 106 full-time firefighters and provides fire suppression and EMS to Jackson Township, the village of Urbancrest, and the municipality of Grove City.

The 106 staff members of the department include firefighters and all other personnel.

In 2024, the Jackson Township Fire Department responded to more than 11,000 calls for service, about 85 percent of which were EMS, according to Jackson Township Administrator Shane Farnsworth.

Jackson Township voters last approved a fire levy in 2019.

The 4-mill renewal levy on the Nov. 4 ballot would extend the existing fire levy for five years, according to the Franklin County Board of Elections.

If approved, the levy would generate $5.6 million annually and is equal to about $80 per $100,000 of property value, according to the Franklin County Board of Elections.

The purpose of the levy, according to a portion of the ballot language, is for “providing and maintaining fire apparatus, mechanical resuscitators, underwater rescue and recovery equipment, or other fire equipment and appliances (and) for the payment of firefighting companies.”

Unlike a replacement levy which takes present-day property values into consideration and generally results in a tax increase, a renewal levy renews, or extends the levy but based on the property values when it was originally approved.

“This renewal levy will not result in any (tax) increase,” Farnsworth said.

But the renewal levy is needed to provide the funding necessary for the operating costs of the fire department, according to Farnsworth.

“There is a lot of economic and development growth in the areas we serve (and) this levy will allow us to continue to meet the needs of the communities we serve,” Farnsworth said.

The levy will support what is expected to be an increasing number of calls for service from the Jackson Township Fire Department as the communities we serve continue to grow, Farnsworth said.