Decatur Township Fire levy fails

Two out of three Lawrence County townships that voted on fire levies have passed them.

Windsor and Washington townships have voted to pass their fire levies. The Decatur Township has voted down a fire levy.

Voters in the 3C precinct also supported the Ironton Eagles request to sell alcohol on Sundays. The liquor option passed 17 to 12.

Chief Gene Cox of the Decatur Fire Department says he isn’t sure what the department will do now. The levy was voted down with 71 supporting and 179 voting against the tax.

“Well I wasn’t really surprised because for one thing, we didn’t get out and push it,” Cox said. He said the department might have to close its doors without the $10,000 that the new levy would have generated. An existing levy brings in only about $2,000, he said.

“With the $2,000 we have operated on for the last several years, we simply can’t maintain and move forward with the fire department.”

Cox said the department will continue to operate on the funds generated with the current levy as long as it can and it will have to cut back on expenses.

“I hate it because the things we had in mind to try to make happen are not going to happen,” he said.

Officials from Windsor Township celebrated the renewal of their levy, which passed 426 to 212.

Fire Chief Don Christian and trustee Mark Johnson thanked the voters for their support.

“If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have made it,” Johnson said after the results were tallied at the Lawrence County Courthouse.

Christian agreed.

“It just makes us feel good that people enough confidence in us to give us their support as much as they did,” he said.

The fire chief said the department plans to purchase a new fire truck with the help of a FEMA grant and funds from the levy.

The Washington Township fire levy was passed 46 to 15. The levy will generate $5,100 per year so the township can continue to contract fire protection with the Madison-Jefferson Fire Department. Reached Tuesday night, township trustees president Jerry Kelly declined to comment.