By Megan Alley
Sun staff

A movement to repeal the village of Bethel’s .5 percent income tax has garnered enough support to make it onto the November ballot.

The initiative petition to propose an ordinance that would repeal Bethel’s .5 percent income tax, which was passed by the council on Sept. 10, 2015, needed 53 qualified signatures to make it onto the presidential ballot; on Aug. 5, officials from the Clermont County Board of Elections found that 79 of the 92 signatures filed by the petition committee on July 26 were “good,” according to Judy Miller, director.

Miller sent a letter of notification to Bethel Fiscal Officer Bill Gilpin on Aug. 4, and now it’s up to village officials to certify the issue and send it back to the board of elections before an Aug. 10 deadline.

The petition is the latest chapter in an 18-month narrative to ensure funding for the Bethel Police Department, which had to make staffing cuts when the village was placed on fiscal emergency in 2008; the department went from having seven full-time officers to three full-time officers, one part-time and five auxiliary officers.

In anticipation of the Jan. 31, 2015, terminus of the village’s 2.9 mill police levy, which was approved in 2010 and brought in $88,000 annually to the department, councilman James Rees brought forth a recommendation from the Finance Committee to the council to support a 1 percent income tax with no credit; the council voted down the tax during its meeting on April 9, 2015.

Then, on April 16, 2015, the council agreed to hold an Aug. 4, 2015, special election to put an 8 mill continuous police levy to a public vote; of the village’s then 1,667 voters, 196 participated in the special election, and the levy was defeated 125 to 71.

On Sept. 10, 2015, in what appeared to be a last ditch effort to find funding for the department, the council approved the current .5 percent income tax, with no credit; revenue generated by the tax goes into the village’s general fund, of which the police use 70 percent, according to Mayor Alan Ausman.

In October 2015, with funding thought to be secured, the department increased staffing and swore in three officers, which Ausman then called a, “first step in getting our police department built back up to where we need to be to get us back to 24 hour coverage, seven days a week.”

Members of the petition committee, which is made up of Jay Noble, Mel Dean, Joshua Schuler and John Maupin, say they initiated the repeal because they believe that residents have been shut out of the decision-making process.

“There are a lot of people who aren’t happy with the way the council is handling things,” said Noble. “We don’t feel like we’re being served right.”

He added, “We need to really dive in and see what the need is and where the money is being spent; we need to reanalyze the budgets.”

Noble, who “supports the police department 100 percent,” took issue with the council’s jump from a 2.9 mill police levy to a proposed 8 mill continuous police levy.

“We did not agree with how they came up with the figures for the August special election,” he explained. “We thought the village was going to meet us halfway; that’s why the levy failed.”

He added, “If they would have put on a 4 mill levy, I have people that said they would have passed it all day long.”

Noble went on to say that, “Residents feel like they are being forced into these taxes.”

“As time has gone on, there are things that have gone on that do not sit well with the community,” he added. “I believe we can still do a levy, but we all have to work together to make it better for everyone.”

Noble suggested that village officials work with Tate Township to develop a Bethel-Tate Police Department.

Tate Township contracts with the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services; currently there is one full-time deputy assigned to the township, according to the Tate Township website.

Ausman believes the initiative is being driven by those who live outside of the village.

“Mr. Greg Schuler got 67 of the needed signatures, so it is quite obvious who is behind this anti- tax initiative,” Ausman said in an email.

According to Miller, Schuler collected 66 of the total 92 signatures submitted to the board of elections.

Greg Schuler, who is Joshua Schuler’s father, lives outside of the village in Tate Township.

“This tax was established last fall to provide needed funds for our police department. Therefore if you are against this tax, you are against having police in our village,” Ausman continued.

He added, “By ordinance, all monies collected were to go to the police fund to pay for all aspects of policing for our village; if this tax goes away our police will also.”

Ausman noted that many communities in the area have a 1 percent income tax.

“Our council, in an act of compromise, voted on .5 percent to fund the police,” he added. “I have asked Mr. Schuler face-to-face for his plan to fund our police department, and he has yet to respond.”