Fulton County gives thumbs-up to 6 of 8 issues
5/4/2005WAUSEON - Six of eight issues on the ballot were approved in Fulton County, where fewer than 2,000 voters went to the polls yesterday.
Approved issues included a park levy in the village of Swanton and a permanent improvement levy for Pettisville Schools. Voters in Swan Creek Township turned down a replacement levy for roads.
Chesterfield Township came in with the lowest voter turnout in the county. The township has 695 registered voters, said Gloria Marlatt, director of the Fulton County Board of Elections, but only 60 residents cast ballots. They approved two issues: a 1-mill, five-year renewal for fire protection and a 2-mill, five-year renewal levy for roads.
Across the county, 1,747 votes were cast; according to the 2000 census, the county's population is just over 42,000. There are about 28,000 registered voters in Fulton County.
The defeat of the 1-mill, five-year replacement levy for roads in Swancreek Township means that the trustees likely will put the levy back on the ballot this fall as a renewal rather than a replacement, said Trustee James Meyer.
"We don't have much of a choice. Residents do not pay much now for roads, and they wouldn't have paid that much more, but that's how it is. The voters have had their say, " he said.
The levy brings in $33,000 a year now, and "that's not enough money to pave one mile of road now," he said.
Replacement levies are taxed at current valuations, while renewal levies are set at the valuation that was in place when the levy was originally passed.
Voters in Clinton Township approved two levies - an additional 1-mill, five-year road levy and a 0.3-mill, five-year replacement fire levy.
In Dover Township, residents once again said no to a proposed zoning plan. It was the fifth vote on the plan. The plan included designated areas for agricultural, real estate, and commercial-industrial purposes.