BOARDMAN - Boardman Trustees are back to the drawing board following a narrow failure of a police and fire levy following the midterm elections.
Trustee Steve Yacovone said the road ahead for plans to help bring money to the departments may force difficult decisions.
“We’re not going to be able to maintain that same level of service that we’ve been providing, but that’s on us to look forward to those decisions and strategically make those decisions so we’re not impacting the residents,” Yacovone said.
Though he said there are no plans to cut responders, he said the departments will need to cut services they can provide to the community.
Budget projections, which will give trustees a better grasp of the changes needed, are expected to be calculated ahead of the new year, Yacovone said.
He said that, at this point, nothing is off-limits in ensuring the departments get the funding they need.
“We’re looking at lobbying our legislators to give us different avenues, whether that be a sales tax or an income tax,” Trustee Steve Yacovone said. “To just, again, pay for those services that our residents have come to expect.”
The levy failed by a vote of 50.4% against to 49.6%, a 194-vote diff...