City officials expect to put a levy before voters in the Nov. 5 general election to raise money for fire and EMS services.
City manager Doug Elliot said that a tentative agreement with Miami has been achieved to split the city’s projected shortfall on fire and EMS services. This agreement is contingent on Oxford voters approving a ten-year, $2.6 million property tax levy.
The city adopted a quarter-percent income tax in 2010 to support Fire/EMS.
“That’s no longer sufficient to support the existing Fire/EMS operation,” Elliot said. “And certainly cannot support additional staff.”
The Oxford Fire/EMS division responded to 3,170 calls in 2023. Miami University facilities accounted for 720 calls, according to a report submitted by assistant city manager Jessica Greene. Those numbers do not account for off-campus students.
While Oxford responders receive a similar number of calls as neighboring townships, fewer staff results in more overtime pay.
“When I did a survey a couple of years ago, the city of Monroe had about the same number of Fire and EMS runs as we did, about 3,000,” Elliot said. “However, they had 40 full-time [responders] and we had, at that time, nine.”
The proposed levy – along with an as-yet undisclosed amount of money from the university – would help fund 15 additional firefighters/EMS staff over the next ten years, according to city finance director Heidi Hill.
“Right now our staff is very limited,” Hill said. “We’re completely understaffed at the fire department.”
“We are trying to move quickly, but not so quickly that we’re leaving stakeholders out of the conversation,” council member Alexandria French said. “The overarching goal is that we’re not putting the exclusive burden on taxpayers, that Miami would also be contributing.”
The tentative agreement with Miami would have the university contribute a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the average annual deficit, to keep taxpayers from covering the deficit in its entirety. Miami University could not be reached for comment.
“I am really happy that Miami came to the table to talk through not only the seriousness of the concerns that the city has in terms of funding a high-quality fire department, but that they also came to the table with a very solutions-forward mindset,” French said.
