ATHENS, Ohio — Nelsonville voters will decide whether to renew a tax levy after the Athens County Board of Elections denied a protest filed against the ballot issue on Aug. 16.
The 5-year levy is for the “general construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, and repair of streets, roads, and bridges.” The county auditor estimates that the 2-mill levy will generate around $98,000 annually — or $53 per $100,000 of taxable value.
The levy will appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. Nelsonville City Council unanimously passed a resolution to place the levy renewal on the ballot at its meeting on July 8.
Former Councilman Greg Smith filed a protest against the levy with the board of elections via email on Aug. 9, taking issue with how the council voted on the resolution. According to his protest, Smith said that the city did not follow procedures laid out in its charter.
Smith also is involved in another case about the general election: He and Nelsonville resident Vicky McDonald sued the city last month in an attempt to force the city and the board of elections to add a citizen initiative to abolish the city charter on the ballot. That case — which also revolves around charter procedures — is pending before Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals.
According to President Sky Pettey, who presided over the meeting, the elections board unanimously denied Smith’s protest against the street levy because it’s not the board’s job to decide if the council acted properly.
“We don’t want to look behind the certification of the clerk of the courts regarding proceedings in Nelsonville City Council … our role [is in] addressing documents once they reach us, as opposed to trying to get into the details of the city council,” Pettey said in a recording of the hearing obtained via public records request.
According to the recording, Smith may pursue the issue in court by filing a writ of mandamus.
In an email Thursday morning, Smith told the Independent in an email: “No, I have not [filed a writ of mandamus].. my lawyer is just to busy for a one lawyer form. We would have started woth (sic) that action if that was the plan.”
