Renewal fails after earlier defeat
The proposal sought to renew a levy voters first approved in 2015 to support street paving, repairs and improvements. Revenue collections under that levy ended in 2025, and the city's income tax rate fell to 1.8% before the November vote, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian.
This was the second rejection of the street-paving tax this year. In the May 5 primary, 1,914 voters opposed it and 1,728 supported it, WOUB Public Media reported. That put opposition at about 52.6%. City Council subsequently returned a nearly identical proposal to voters on the November ballot, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian.
Projected revenue and taxpayer cost
City officials estimated that renewing the levy would bring in about $2 million a year. The money would be legally limited to paving and street construction.
The levy would have applied to earned income rather than property values. The city's examples put the cost at about $80 a year for a resident earning $40,000, or roughly $3 from a $1,500 biweekly paycheck.
Paving record and project funding
The City of Chillicothe said the original levy raised $17,322,975 during its life and helped pave about 70% of the city's roads and alleyways. Officials also reported that, since 2015, resurfacing had covered about 65% of street mileage and 19% of alleys.
Beyond paving, the city said levy revenue supplied the local share of funding for Ohio Department of Transportation safety projects on Western Avenue and Bridge Street, as well as downtown milling and paving. Without renewal, officials said, Chillicothe would lose a source of matching money for Ohio Public Works Commission grants and larger Ohio Department of Transportation paving projects.
Before the vote, officials estimated that the remaining resurfacing work could be finished within six to seven years if the levy continued.
