Troy City Council votes to remove parks levy from Tuesday’s ballot

The issue will not be counted on ballots already cast.

Troy City Council agreed Monday to remove from Tuesday’s general election ballot a proposed recreation levy because of a misplaced decimal point.

Council met in a closed session to discuss pending or imminent litigation before amending its agenda to discuss in public the ballot withdrawal proposal as a committee of the whole.

“I think this does make sense to clear up any potential confusion,” said Councilman Bobby Phillips, who also is president of the citizens committee promoting the levy.

“There have been many sets of eyes on this thing … Things happen,” Phillips said of the error.

Council voted 7-0 to approve the request to withdraw the levy.

With the action, ballots already cast for the proposed 10-year levy won’t be counted and those going to the polls Tuesday will see signs stating the proposal was withdrawn from the ballot, according to the Miami County Board of Elections.

The city announced late Friday council would be asked to act “due to potentially conflicting language that is included on the ballot.”

The brief statement said the city apologized for any confusion, and indicated the recreation proposal likely would return in the future.

The misplaced decimal point meant the levy, if approved by voters, would have generated a “significant” amount less than the targeted $1 million a year for 10 years, elections board member Jose Lopez said.

The Miami County auditor approved for the city a 2.01 mill rate but the city “transposed a decimal point” and listed 0.201 mills in ballot language, Eric Morgan, deputy elections director, said.

A voter pointed out the problem with the misplaced decimal point Nov. 2 to the board of elections.

The elections board Nov. 3 told Troy Law Director Grant Kerber it was instructed by the Secretary of State’s Office to turn the issue over to the city and the county prosecutor’s office – the election board’s legal representative – to determine what would happen next.

City resident Kent Frauenberger Monday asked council to explain the error and safeguards to be implemented to avoid future errors.

Kerber explained the ballot language went through multiple levels of review,but an error still occurred.

“We certainly will look at extra safeguards to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Kerber said.

City council voted earlier this year to place the levy on the ballot, at the request of the Operation Recreation committee, a group of community organizations offering recreation activities.

The Operation Recreation group had pledged to raise another $4 million from the private sector to help pay for proposed projects that included baseball and soccer fields; Senior Citizens Center improvements; and clubhouse renovations and a driving range at the Miami Shores Golf Course.

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