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Show eWSJM wHaUdDnsilI L J Fire district mill lew Not much hullabaloo has been made over the Fire District Mill Levy which will be on the ballot November 2nd. However, while a yes vote will set a maximum mill levy for each of the two districts, it will not constitute a raise in taxes for most Beaver Countyites, but rather will end double taxation for the majority. Presently, Milford, Beaver, Minersville and South Milford Fire District assess themselves to provide Are protection. Beaver Bea-ver County also collects taxes from residents resi-dents of these corporations, as well as the unincorporated areas of the county. Part of these county taxes are allocated to the three municipalities and the SM.FJ3. to provide protection to those areas outside the municipalities. This amounts to double taxation, for these municipalities and SJH.FJ). In an effort to avoid this double taxation, taxa-tion, two districts have been set up. District Dis-trict Number 1 encompasses the Minersville Miners-ville reservoir and the rest of the county to the east. District Number 2 covers western Beaver County from that imaginary line west of the reservoir, includingMiners-ville includingMiners-ville and Milford. The mill levy you are asked to vote on in the Nov. 2 election is not necessarily the mill levy you will be taxed but is the maximum levy you can be taxed, for fire protection. The purpose of the two districts is to provide for separate taxation for different dif-ferent needs. In other words, if Milford and Minersville need new equipment, Beaver Bea-ver and those living in District 1 will not be taxed to pay for it. Whereas, if District 1 requires new equipment, District 2 will not be taxed to pay for it. However, everyone living in District 1 will be taxed the same to pay the costs of fire protection. The mill levy will be assessed the same against property in unincorporated areas as it is in the municipalities. If passed, the first mill levy for the districts would be set in 1977 for use in 1978. The maximum levy would be two mills. However, if it is deemed that District 1 can provide adequate fire protection pro-tection for one mill and District 2 can provide pro-vide adequate protection for 12 mill, then that would be the mill levy set for each respective district. Beaver County presently has a two-mill two-mill levy for fire protection, which will be collected 1-: November for the 1977 budsjet year. It will be divided 40 to Bej ver, 40 to Milford and South Milford, and 20 to Minersville. In the past the county has used this same formula in providing pro-viding protection to the unincorporated areas. However, the municipalities, and South Milford Fire District were also forced to pay a share of the protection for the unincorporated areas, while assessing themselves to provide adequate protection. While the formula probably is reasonably reason-ably fair, it does not provide for individual indivi-dual assessment in the districts. Therefore, There-fore, if heavy expenditures are needed in one district, unless the levy is approved November 2, both districts will have to be assessed the same. We believe the two fire districts are beneficial to growth In Beaver County, and will eliminate double taxation. Taxing the districts separately will permit each end of the county to provide adequate protection protec-tion at the lowest possible cost. We recommend rec-ommend a yes vote on this issue. "Red" |