After a recount of ballots on Friday morning, the Ironton recreation levy has failed.
In the May primary election, the votes on the levy were tied and remained the same after the recount that was done by hand.
“The votes were the same as on certification day,” said Lawrence County Board of Elections director Catherine Snider. “731 to 731. It says right on the ballot that it has to have a majority of votes to pass.”
And since the votes were tied, under Ohio law, the levy failed.
Ironton City Council president Chris Haney said it was disappointing to see the levy fail, “but that was the way I figured it was going to go.”
He said there were a couple things that didn’t go their way, particularly that people were upset by a levy to raise sales taxes on certain items to help fund a new Lawrence County Jail.
Haney pointed out that the rec levy didn’t increase taxes, just kept the taxes at the same level to fund a lot of things around Ironton like the mowing and maintenance of the parks, the boat dock on the Ohio River, the kayak launch on Storms Creek, multiple youth sports leagues and the new pickle ball events.
The levy funding continues until the end of the year and Haney said they are working on getting the rec levy on the November ballot to fund the rec activities in 2023, but, this time, they will make sure that voters better understand the levy and what all it provides around the city.
“I feel like we didn’t educate people well enough for the primary election,” Haney said. “It is just a renewal, it isn’t going to cost property owners any more money. We need to a better job on education. We will see what we can do before November comes around.”