By Wayne Gates

The Brown County Board of Elections has approved the placement of an effort to reduce Georgetown’s Fire and EMS levy on the November ballot following an appeal from issue organizers.

Georgetown Village Solicitor Joe Braun promised an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court after the decision.

The issue was initially removed from the ballot by the BOE on August 13 for an insufficient number of signatures on the creating petition.

It proposes that the levy be reduced by seven mills from 9.5 to 2.5.

At the BOE meeting on August 29, Braun and Brown County Prosecuting Attorney Zac Corbin discussed the matter at length.

Corbin is the statutory attorney for the BOE.

The issue is whether state law prevents new levies from being reduced by voter petition or whether the law just applies to existing levies. Braun argued that state law prohibits a vote to decrease a new levy. After deliberating in executive session, the BOE rejected Braun’s argument and allowed a vote on the issue to proceed. The vote was 3-1, with BOE Member Tom Mayes voting no. Board members Mariah Votel, Joann Kattine and Margery Paeltz voted yes.

Following the meeting, Braun said that the Ohio Supreme Court has been known to hear pending election issues on an expedited basis, and that a decision could be made before the election.

“We are going to file a Writ of Prohibition with the Ohio Supreme Court and let them interpret the statute and case law attached to it. We simply disagree with the board of elections interpretation of the statute that governs the right of people to reduce a fire levy,” Braun said.

Petition organizer Mike Napier said the question comes down to money.

“The people of Georgetown cannot afford the luxury of a full time fire department,” Napier said.

“The only people making money in Georgetown are the people that work for Georgetown. Everybody else is struggling.”

Napier said that the decision by former Georgetown Village Administrator Art Owens to require first responders to be certified EMT’s and firefighters “dismantled” the volunteer firefighter system in Georgetown.

“You’ve got a lot of volunteers out there who can assist at traffic accidents, give somebody mouth to mouth or whatever. But when you tell that same person he’s got to be a fireman, most of them can’t pass the physical. So they were forced out because of Art Owens.”

Napier said that there are local alternatives to paying for 24/7 EMT coverage in the village.

“There are three other ambulatory services in town that would absolutely love the opportunity to bid on ambulatory service in Georgetown. Then you have it contracted out. Then Georgetown has no repairs, no equipment to buy or nothing.”

Napier added that the future of emergency medical care in the village is up to the residents.

“I want the citizens of Georgetown to know that now they have the opportunity, if they want a full time fire and EMS now that they know what the cost is, vote yes, vote no, whatever.”

The election is scheduled for Nov. 5 of this year.

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