Vote YES on Issue 18

Guest blog by Keith Moore, Council-at-Large

  

Issue 18 is a renewal of the City of Norwood’s general operating levy.

It is NOT an increase, just a renewal.

According to the Hamilton County Auditor’s Certificate, if the levy passes, it will bring in $1,333,390.00 per year. It will cost the owner of a $100,000 house $79.33 per year.

Currently, the levy costs the owner of a $100,000 house $79.33 per year.

So why does the city need this levy? Revenues are down – way down. Here are the General Fund revenue numbers for the last few years:

            2009:   $22 million

            2010:   $19.9 million

            2011:   $18.8 million

            2012:   $18 million (estimated)

A big part of the budget crunch this year comes from the State, which cut Local Government Funds and eliminated the Personal Property Tax and the Estate Tax.

The City’s employees have managed to squeeze every dime to keep us operating, including major contract concessions on wages and staffing levels that have saved millions of dollars. Of course, the City has also closed the smaller swimming pools and suspended the annual street repair program. We have made cuts across the board, but we have kept every department open and operating so far.

Things should be better in the years to come. The economy is slowly improving, and we can all see the new projects going up. There are more projects in the planning stages. But we won’t begin to see the budget impact from those new projects until late next year, and for most, in 2014 or later. And we have a lot of ground to make up to get back to where we should be.

Losing this levy would have a major impact on our ability to maintain the services we have now.

Please vote YES on Issue 18.

Community meeting next Thursday

Ward 1 Councilperson Sarah Allan and Council-at-large Keith Moore are co-hosting a community meeting next Thursday, October 4th at 7:30 p.m. at the Norwood Community Center at 1810 Courtland Avenue at the corner of Carter Avenue.  Everyone is invited to attend and find out about the exciting new developments and projects in Norwood.  They will provide information about Issue 18, which on this November’s ballot.

Invitation to Norwood Republican Club Candidates’ Night

Join the Norwood Republican Club as 

we welcome local candidates for

office at our 2012

Candidates’ Night 

Monday, September 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Norwood Community Center
1810 Courtland Avenue
Norwood, Ohio

Judge Pat Fisher
Wayne Lippert
Ted Hubbard
Joe Deters
Leslie Ghiz
Judge John Williams
Pete Kambelos
Rob Goering

And others to be announced….

Alert: have you seen this vicious Norwood dog?

This Channel 12 report asks the public to contact the SPCA or the Norwood Police if anyone has information about a vicious dog that attacked a puppy on Drex Avenue near Norwood View Elementary last Wednesday night.  Bevin Kennedy says the dog attacked her springer spaniel and kept attacking after she screamed and even followed them across the street to their home.  She believes the dog is a pit bull or boxer mix with a brindle coat.  The description is similar to that of a dog that attacked and killed Bart Stonebraker’s dog in the front yard of his Warren Avenue home this past February. 

Please be on the lookout for this dog and teport any sightings immediately to the Norwood Police or SPCA.  Until the dog is caught, we all need to take extra precautions for our pets’ safety as well as our own.