HAMLIN, W.Va. — Two more casualties of Tuesday’s election in West Virginia were in Lincoln County where two levies failed. One of the levies funded volunteer fire service in the county and the other funded the county’s emergency ambulance service.
“Those levies are critical to emergency services in the county,” said Lincoln County Emergency Services Director Allen Holder.
The ambulance levy was for $440,000 dollars over five years. The fire protection levy was also a five year levy worth $500,000 and was split evenly among the county’s eight volunteer fire departments. The money helped pay for fuel, insurance, equipment, and building maintenance for each fire department. They had been in place continually since the early 1980s.
“I think there was a lot of people coming to the polls and they were just angry about the current situation in government,” said Holder. “They just voted against anything that looked like the norm.”
The levies received a majority of the votes, but needed 60 percent voter approval. Holder said they are waiting for the canvas next week to determine what their next move will be. The fire levy received 59.17 percent approval. The ambulance levy had 57.76 approval. A few vote changes in the canvas could reverse the outcome. However, Holder said they will need to make some tough decisions.
“I can assure you if we don’t get the levy in place it’s going to result in a reduction in services in both the fire services and the ambulances services,” he said. “We’re in a position now where we need to increase the funding for those services, not decrease it.”
If they levy’s fail to survive the canvas there are discussions about a special levy election after the first of the year since each levy is in place through the end of June.