Radnor Township Board of Trustees is asking voters to approve a five-year, 2.9-mill levy on the Nov. 5 ballot for the general construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, and repair of township roads and bridges.
If passed by voters, the roads and bridges levy would cost the owner of a $200,000 property valuation $203 annually with farmland taxation calculated at the present Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV). The new levy would generate $182,923 annually.
It’s the responsibility of the Radnor Township Board of Trustees to oversee the paving, drainage, mowing, and snow plowing of the roads, plus the maintenance of two cemeteries and a 10-acre park. Currently, the township does not have a roads levy on the books.
Trustee Theresa Watkins said the board asked the Delaware County Engineer’s Office to do an assessment on the township’s 29 miles of roads. She said the report shows 80% of the roads are in need of repair. Depending on the type of surface used, the cost to repair a road is anywhere between $16,000 to $79,000. The total cost to address all roads in need of repair is estimated to be $1.2 million.
“It was decided to put a five-year, 2.9-mill levy on the ballot,” Watkins said. “Instead of always patching and repairing them, pave them.”
According to a flyer published and mailed out to township residents by the board, the current annual roads revenue stands at $125,000, but the continued increase in costs have now outpaced revenues.
• In 2015, asphalt cost $68 per ton; $79.50 per ton in 2019
• In 2015, chip and seal pavement cost $1.46 per square yard; $1.75 per square yard in 2019
• In 2018, road salt cost $48 per ton; $83 per ton in 2019
Watkins said the board will also send out a postcard ahead of the Nov. 5 general election with the information about the levy.
The language on the ballot reads:
“An additional tax for the benefit of Radnor Township, Delaware County, Ohio for the purpose of general construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, and repair of roads and bridges at a rate not exceeding 2.9 mills for each one dollar of valuation, which amounts to $0.29 for each one hundred dollars of valuation, for 5 years, commencing in 2020, first due in calendar year 2021.”
The trustees invite anyone with questions to attend their meetings held in the Community Building the second and fourth Mondays of each month starting at 7 p.m.
