ABERDEEN, Ohio — With the elections inching closer, and many Aberdeen residents disgruntled about the possibility of more taxes, a member of the local police department explained things from his perspective.

Aberdeen Police Chief David Benjamin live streamed a short explanation regarding the return of the police levy tax, which was put onto the November ballot by the village council back in August. During the stream, Benjamin attempts to explain to viewers about the levy itself, what it will do for the community and to answer some questions residents may have about the levy.

“It was supposed to be a five mill levy,” Benjamin said. “And we heard a lot of talk from the citizens that five mill was too much and that they weren’t going to support that and unfortunately the vote did go down and you guys voted not to put that tax levy on.”

The levy has been a hot button topic among residents of Aberdeen, with a near 60-40 split among voters during the primary election on May 8.

According to the poll results, Aberdeen voters ultimately voted 179-129 against the levy; 58 percent of voters voted against, and 42 percent of voters voted for.

“Nobody wants taxes, we don’t want to have a tax,” Benjamin said, “but sometimes it’s a necessary evil unfortunately. So we did reduce the five mill tax levy into a three mill tax levy.”

According to Benjamin, should the levy be voted in by Aberdeen residents, an expected $55,000-$60,000 will be made to fund exclusively the police department.

Anything ranging from equipment costs to hiring and paying new officers would be funded by the levy.

“To break that down for you: if you have a $100,000 home, a $100,000 piece of property, that is going to cost you a total of $91.86 a year,” he said. “If you break that down, that’s be 25 cents a day to help your police department.”

During the stream, Benjamin mentioned some of the plans he and the village have if the levy ends up passed in November.

“Our plans are, if we can get this levy to pass, if you guys can support us, we want to put on another full-time officer,” he said. “Currently, it’s just myself and Officer Amole, so we only have two officers right now and that’s just impossible to cover all of the shifts, and to over all of the calls; and we apologize that we’re not able to do that, we want to be able to do that but we can only work so many hours.”

To view the full stream, visit the Aberdeen Police Department’s Facebook page where it is posted.

Voting for the new police levy will begin on Nov. 6.

Benjamin
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_101718-news-policechief-1.jpgBenjamin

Jonathan Wright

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