Coal Grove levy fails for third time; falls by 10 votes
Published 1:57 am Wednesday, May 5, 2010
COAL GROVE — Coal Grove residents once again shot down an operational levy Tuesday night.
Residents voted 110 against to 100 for the $20,000 levy. It had been voted down twice before. The levy, which had been accepted regularly for years before being voted out for the first time in 2008, supports the village’s general fund including fire and police protection.
“It’s something that we really need and I guess we’ll just have to try again,” Mayor Larry McDaniel said. “With it being the primary I didn’t think the turnout would be very good.”
Because of a printing error, the levy was left off the main ballot, said Eric Bradshaw, deputy director of Lawrence County Board of Elections. Residents were given issues-only ballots instead.
Councilman Aaron Stewart called the error disappointing.
“It’s disappointing that there was an error in the voting process,” he said, adding that the village would have to work around not having the levy.
“We have an excellent group of people on council and there are a lot of positive things going on. This is a minor setback.”
McDaniel said he is unsure what budget changes the village will have to make.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “We’ll just have to wait and see how the money holds out.”