Many, many times I support levies without question.
However, this particular Levy I cannot and will not support due to it being unfair to the residents of Mount Gilead.
I am certain that the information below will cause hard feelings and possibly prevent me from re-election (village council) next year, but it’s important to have the actual facts to better educate voters. I personally am voting no on the Gilead Township Road Levy renewal due to the below reasons and others.
The information provided in this letter is to inform the residents of Mount Gilead on the upcoming Gilead Township Road Levy.
• This levy was first introduced in 1985 and we started paying on in 1986.
• All residents of Gilead Township pay this tax which includes those living inside the Village limits of Mount Gilead.
• The 2010 census found 6,112 people live in Gilead township with 3,660 residing inside the Village limits. (More than half the people live inside the village of Mount Gilead)
• For many years the residents have paid a large portion of the tax collected to fund roads outside the Village of Mount Gilead limits.
• Since the levy was created, the residents of Mount Gilead have paid over $1 million in taxes to the township.
• All funds go directly to Gilead Township which pays for the improvement of roads in the unincorporated areas of the Township (not the streets incorporated within the Village limits).
• The Village of Mount Gilead has made several attempts to work with the the Township Trustees to get a portion of the funds collected for street repairs inside the Village limits and have been denied. (The exception to this is three roads were partially chipped and sealed: Bingham, Orchard, and the wastewater treatment road.)
• The Village has submitted a written request to Gilead Township to be removed from the levy and that request has been denied.
• The township has the option to pay for roads inside the village, but under Ohio law are not required to do so.
To be clear, unless the township changes their position, this road levy will do nothing to improve roads/streets for the Village of Mount Gilead.
Christopher Sherbourne
Mount Gilead
