To the editor:

The upcoming Sidney municipal tax levy is about community safety. Slightly over 60 percent of all streets have been addressed with the current temporary levy. If the proposed levy does not pass, then our streets will regress back to the condition that existed previously. This levy will ensure that the remaining streets are addressed, and it will make it possible that all our streets are maintained in the future.

The levy will also address the construction and staffing of an additional fire station. Recently, a concern was expressed that Sidney hardly needed a third fire station, as Piqua has but one. Piqua’s population has remained relatively constant over the past 50 years. Sidney’s population has grown more than 20 percent over that time. In addition, we have far more people who come into Sidney to work each day than Piqua has.

In order for our great city to continue to grow and thrive, we need to demonstrate that we can protect the investment that companies make and ensure the safety of their employees.

Perhaps more importantly, we need to ensure the safety of our citizens. We need to ensure that emergency services can reach our families as quickly as possible. I don’t want to rely on emergency personnel traveling on substandard roads to serve my family when their lives are at stake.

Call volume has increased more than 899 percent over the last five decades. We need to ensure that we have services in place to handle this volume.

We are asking voters to pass this PERMANENT 0.30 percent levy on earned income. The proceeds of the levy will be equally divided between street maintenance and the fire department. The average person making $35,000 per year working or residing within the city limits will pay $17.50 more a year then they currently pay with the currently levy, which will expire at the end of this year. The new levy will not take effect until 2020.

Social Security, retirement and pension income, disability and investment income will not be impacted by this tax increase. The monies generated by this levy CAN ONLY and WILL ONLY be used for street maintenance and for the fire department. This seems a small price to pay to ensure not only our personal safety, but also for the safety of our friends and neighbors. I appreciate your support of the levy.

Thank you,

Darryl E. Thurber

Sidney City councilman

Second-ward