With the November election rapidly approaching, the politics are hitting close to home with Issue 2 on the City of Oxford’s ballot, which addresses the financial deficit the Oxford Fire Department (OFD) has faced for over a year.
Issue 2 includes a property tax levy to generate $2.6 million in a 10-year span to address the deficit in a long-term way. Because Miami University is exempt from Oxford’s property taxes, the university has reached an agreement with the city to aid in the deficit in lieu of taxes at an amount of $1.27 million annually, if the levy passes. This would tax at a rate no higher than $91 per $100,000 of property value.
Miami’s contribution will begin Jan. 1, 2025. This amount will be Miami’s contribution to combating the deficit, as 43% of all fire calls in Oxford are for students on Miami’s campus or within the Mile Square.
In addition to the levy, the City of Oxford is committed to investing $270,000 annually in economic development activities, in an effort for the city to expand its tax base.
Jessica Greene, Oxford’s assistant city manager, said the levy has been considered for months now, and is really a last resort to put Oxford’s fire and EMS services back on track. In the past two years, OFD has lost six out of the nine originally firefighters staffed, with one leaving in the last two weeks.
“We’re losing people who have institutional knowledge, who have been trained … it is a major issue,” Greene said. “We’ve been able to rehire, but we just don’t have the retention.”
According to Greene, most of the firefighters who have quit have cited the volume of calls as a reason for resignation. If Issue 2 passes, Greene said the city would be able to hire the appropriate number of firefighters per the volume of calls the department receives.
“[Hiring more firefighters] should then not require so much mandatory overtime, and allow them to sleep some during their 24-hour shifts, and it would enable them to be able to take vacations,” Greene said.
If the levy is not passed, the decision on how to address the deficit would return to Oxford city council.
However, one thing is certain: cuts unrelated to the fire department will need to be made.
Which is why Liz Hutzel Meador, member of the Keep Oxford Safe – Fire and EMS Issue 2 political action group (PAC), said she is passionate about informing Oxford of the importance of the issue passing.
The PAC formed about three weeks ago and promotes its message via its Facebook page. The group also has been distributing lawn signs promoting Issue 2, encouraging voters to vote “yes” on Nov. 5.
“This is not sustainable, and that’s been made clear for a number of years at this point, with little movement or investment in a solution,” Meador said. “So if the only option is to support a levy and feel like we can do something, then that’s what I’m here to do”
Meador has been a resident of Oxford her entire life, and has friends and family who work for the fire department.
“I see the physical toll of working so far this year, over 1,000 overtime hours, on top of their 53-hour work weeks, not to mention the mental toll and the toll on the families [of these responders],” Meador said.
Cuts in spending would come from other areas of the city’s budget, potentially from things like road repairs, Oxford’s capital budget, and more. If the levy does not pass, Greene said one of the possibilities will be to reexamine a levy further down the line.
City staff held a virtual meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 23 to inform voters of the facts regarding Issue 2 and how it relates to the financial deficit facing OFD.
– Olivia Patel
