Election results · November 3, 2026
Issue 20 passed.Thank you.
Miami Township, Yellow Springs & Clifton — Greene County, Ohio
Miami Township voters approved Issue 20 by nearly two to one. Thank you to everyone who voted, put up a sign, talked with a neighbor, or asked us a hard question. Your vote replaces Engine 81 and puts Miami Township Fire-Rescue’s trucks and equipment on a schedule.
Yard signs can come down now. If you’d like a volunteer to pick yours up, email info@mtffa.org.
Issue 20 · Unofficial results
- For the Tax Levy
- 64.4% 2,047 votes
- Against the Tax Levy
- 35.6% 1,134 votes
All 6 precincts reporting. Election-night count. Remaining provisional and absentee ballots are counted before the county certifies the result.
A dedicated fund for the equipment that shows up when you call.
Fire engines and rescue equipment wear out on a predictable schedule. Until now, Miami Township Fire-Rescue has had no dedicated way to pay for replacing them — so a truck gets repaired until it can’t be repaired anymore, and then the township is faced with a large, unplanned bill.
Issue 20 changes that. It creates a small, steady source of money reserved for apparatus and equipment, so the department can plan replacements years in advance, finance them at a predictable cost, and avoid the emergency spending that ends up costing taxpayers more.
Issue 20 is an equipment levy. It is a separate question from the operating levy that pays for day-to-day staffing and service.
When the Trustees placed it on the ballot, they committed by Board resolution to limit the money to capital uses only — apparatus, vehicles, equipment and related assets — paired with a maintenance plan to protect what the township buys, and with public reporting every year.
Source: Trustees’ press release Miami Township Board of Trustees, June 15, 2026 “Miami Township Trustees Propose Modest Levy for Fire & EMS Equipment” — the release announcing the levy, the restriction to capital uses, and the engine financing. Downloads a Word document.“Trustees emphasize that the proposal is not centered on a single purchase, but on establishing a predictable, transparent system to replace equipment on schedule and avoid larger, unplanned costs in the future.”
As it appears on your ballot
20 — Proposed Tax Levy (Additional)
Miami Township
A majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.
There is no “yes” box on the ballot. A yes vote for Issue 20 is the one marked “For the Tax Levy.”
Roughly $182,000 a year — all of it for equipment.
The first priority is a new fire engine. The rest builds the replacement fund that keeps the next truck from becoming an emergency. By Board resolution, none of it can go to operating expenses.
Our two fire engines are 30 and 16 years old.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends replacing a fire engine once it is more than 25 years old. Engine 81 is five years past that. Source: NFPA 1900, annex NFPA 1900 (2024), annex “Apparatus that were not manufactured to the applicable NFPA fire apparatus standards or that are over 25 years old should be replaced.” As quoted in Fire Engineering, Aug. 15, 2025.
One station. Twenty-seven square miles. Every call, every hour.
Miami Township Fire-Rescue protects Miami Township in Greene County, the Village of Yellow Springs, and Clifton — about 27.6 square miles — from a single station in downtown Yellow Springs. The department answers more than a thousand emergencies a year: structure fires, crashes on the state routes, medical emergencies, water rescues, and everything in between.
Which Miami Township? Ohio has several. This is the one in Greene County, between Springfield and Xenia. Note that the department’s coverage area is wider than the township itself.
The roster is small and mostly part-time: a core of full-time firefighter-medics backed by part-time members and volunteers. There is no second station to cover a call while the first crew is out, and no neighboring department that can reach the far corners of the township quickly. The equipment has to work the first time.
Questions neighbors are asking
What will this actually cost me?
$28 per year for each $100,000 of your home’s appraised value as set by the Greene County Auditor — about $2.33 a month. A home valued at $200,000 would pay roughly $56 a year; a home at $315,800, about $88 a year. Source: Trustees’ press release Miami Township Board of Trustees, June 15, 2026 “For homeowners, the cost is estimated at $28 per $100,000 of appraised value per year.” Downloads a Word document.
Note that this is based on the auditor’s appraised value, which is not necessarily what you paid for your home or what it would sell for today. You can look up your own property’s appraised value on the Greene County Auditor’s website.
Is this a new tax or a renewal?
Issue 20 is an additional levy — a new tax, not a renewal of something you are already paying. It is a continuing levy, meaning it does not expire on its own.
It first appears on tax bills due in calendar year 2027.
Why can’t the department pay for trucks out of its existing budget?
The department’s existing levies fund operations — wages, training, fuel, supplies, and the day-to-day cost of answering calls. There is no meaningful room in that budget to set aside six figures a year toward a $1.35 million fire engine.
The result has been a break-fix cycle: keep repairing a truck until it can no longer be repaired, then face the full replacement cost all at once. Issue 20 exists to end that cycle.
Didn’t the department just get new vehicles?
Yes — Chief 80, Battalion 81 and Medic 81 are recent purchases. The engines are a different story. Engine 81 has been in service since 1996 and Engine 82 since 2010, and an engine costs far more than a command vehicle or medic unit: about $1.35 million.
Issue 20 replaces Engine 81 first. The rest of the fund is set aside so the newer vehicles can be replaced on schedule when their time comes, instead of all at once in a crisis.
Can this money be spent on anything else?
The purposes are set by the ballot language, which is reproduced word for word above. The levy is written for fire apparatus, rescue and ambulance equipment, buildings and sites, and related costs.
By Board resolution, the money is limited to capital uses only — apparatus, vehicles, equipment and related assets — held separate from operating expenses, with a maintenance plan and annual public reporting on what was spent. The ballot sets the outer limit; the resolution is the Trustees’ commitment inside it.
Source: Trustees’ press release Miami Township Board of Trustees, June 15, 2026 The release announcing the levy, including the resolution restricting funds to capital uses and the commitment to annual public reporting.I have a question that isn’t answered here.
Please ask. Email info@mtffa.org and someone from the Association will get back to you.
Questions about the levy itself — the resolution, the financing, or how the money will be reported — are best put to the Township Trustees, who placed it on the ballot: trustees@miamitownshipGCOH.gov or (937) 767-2460.
Thank you, Miami Township.
Issue 20 first appears on tax bills due in 2027. By Board resolution, the money is limited to capital uses only and reported publicly every year.