The outcome of Batavia Township’s fire levy is still too close to call.
Unofficial results from Tuesday’s election show voters struck down an 8.4-mill indefinite fire levy by a margin of only 98 votes.
With such a small difference between those in favor and those opposed, there is a chance the levy will succeed, especially because provisional ballots — cast when someone’s eligibility can’t be confirmed on Election Day — are still trickling in.
Chris Dennison, Clermont County’s deputy director of elections, said voters can still come in through Saturday to “cure” whatever the issue was on Election Day, like a missing identification. Plus, they’ll accept overseas military and civilian ballots until Saturday.
Because of this, Dennison said nobody should count on Tuesday’s preliminary results. That’s true of any race but especially for one so close, he said.
“In any election, the results are unofficial until the official canvass is opened and all the remaining ballots are reviewed by the board and either accepted or rejected,” Dennison said, adding that will happen in Clermont County on Nov. 24.
If by then there’s less than half a percent difference between the “yes” and “no” votes, Dennison said that triggers an automatic recount. Currently, the levy is failing by 0.86%.
In a statement to WVXU, Batavia Township Administrator Karen Swartz said her office is awaiting official results before taking any action.
Local 4273, the union for the Central Joint Fire and EMS District, expressed disappointment over the unofficial results on Facebook Wednesday morning but said its commitment to serving residents remains unchanged.
“We will continue to show up, answer the calls and perform our duties to the very best of our abilities with the staffing, equipment and funding available to us,” the statement read.
If the slim margin holds, Jared Shouse, treasurer and secretary for the union, said difficult decisions lie ahead.
“On the union side, our biggest challenge honestly is staff,” Shouse said, adding the levy would have supported six personnel who previously were maintained through a federal grant. “Well, that money is now gone.”
Shouse said many of the current staff have started looking for jobs elsewhere. Instability is especially high, he said, because a budget-driven decision earlier this year reduced the number of minimum daily firefighters from eight to six.
“With less people, it’s not safe for us, and it's not safe for the community as a whole,” Shouse said, adding the fire district responds to more than 5,000 calls per year. “We are potentially looking at trying to maintain those responses on our own with potentially six personnel at the worst case scenario.”
A few more levies across Southwest Ohio couldn’t muster enough support Tuesday:
- Also in Clermont County, about 52% of Union Township voters rejected a new mill levy to aid that area’s joint fire district. While disappointed with the outcome, the group Citizens for Union Township Safety Services thanked its supporters on Facebook and said its commitment “to serving our community remains unchanged.”
- The City of Forest Park opted against an indefinite fire and EMS levy by about 330 votes.
- The Village of New Miami soundly rejected a five-year police levy, which only garnered about 24% of the vote. The village also declined a fire levy designed to replace an expiring one. That vote was slightly closer: more than 40% of those who weighed in supported the measure.
Other levies have margins similar to Batavia Township:
- The Village of College Corner renewed its 50-year-old fire levy for another five years. Of the few dozen people who weighed in, only 21 more voted in favor.
- The Village of Lockland passed an indefinite levy to support the fire department by a margin of just 32 votes.
Most first responder levies in Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties did made it across the finish line this year:
- Although Fairfield Township voters declined an indefinite police levy in May, they approved it this time with more than 52% of the vote.
- In Hanover Township, more than 55% of voters supported an additional levy for the fire department, set to expire after five years. It marks the reversal of a losing streak, as slightly larger levies failed in the past two elections.
- Madison Township voters renewed an existing levy for another five years. It garnered 53% of the vote this election.
- The residents of Turtlecreek Township gave the OK to an additional, indefinite levy for the first time in nearly 20 years. Nearly 600 more people voted in favor of the measure than those in opposition.
- By a margin of more than 130 votes, Washington Township residents approved a new five-year levy Tuesday designed to support the fire department.
For more on each levy and to see how much they will cost homeowners, see WVXU's breakdown.
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