FREMONT, Ohio — After a levy was voted down by Fremont voters last year, the city is again asking its residents to pass a half percent income tax increase for road repair.
Bill Guhn has been the supervisor for Fremont's Streets Department for nearly 12 years.
He says his department is only allotted about $400K for street repair, which currently allows them to work on only a few roads a year.
Because of that, the city is asking voters to pass a 5-year, half percent income tax earmarked exclusively for road repairs.
If approved, Guhn's street budget would expand to $2.5 - $3 million a year.
"That is a lot to do a lot of different projects with. We're not going to just stay in one area of the city, we're going to work off four quadrants. Everybody pays taxes. We want to make sure we distribute it," Guhn said.
Along with repaving long ignored roads, the additional funding would allow Fremont to qualify for more ODOT projects since those projects come with a local match requirement.
Guhn says they won't just focus on the main thoroughfares if the levy is passed, but make sure the smaller roads in town get the proper attention too.
"You know, we don't want to ignore people because the most important road to them is the one they live on," Guhn said.
If the half percent income tax is approved by voters next week, the city of Fremont will begin to collect that additional revenue at the turn of the new year, with the expectation that construction should begin around this time in 2023.