Emotions rose as Circleville Council made changes to a proposed safety forces tax levy Tuesday evening.
Council has been working on putting a half-percent increase of the 2% city income tax on the fall ballot, to additionally fund stressed safety forces during an ailing city budget.
For most of two hours, council heard from the audience of mostly police, firefighters, and EMS...then discussed changes, one of which would limit the tax to five years.
Council president David Crawford said the changes will probably not be well accepted by the personnel, and he expects council will hear from them over two weeks before the next council session.
He said this was the first reading of the legislation, the first time changes could be made.
Crawford said if the safety forces loose motivation to support passage of the tax levy, it will be a significant hurdle to get over.
Council plans to pass the legislation before the deadline to file for the fall ballot, August 7th.
Kevin Coleman regularly reports on Chillicothe & Circleville councils and local culture