Richland Source66%
Lexington advances park levy renewal amid changes to Ohio tax law 23%
By Katie Ellington Serrao26% Justice Wheeler27%
7/23/2026, 9:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 9 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, False Dilemma, and Anecdotal, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 23.5% saturation with 80 hits. Analysis detected 226 faulty-reasoning hits from 341 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 36.5% and a BS Rank of 23% (15,860 of 20,473 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 77.50% of the article peer group.
LEXINGTON — Lexington Village Council took the first step in putting a parks levy renewal on the November ballot at Wednesday night’s meeting.
Since it’s a renewal, the levy would not raise residents’ tax bill.
If approved by voters, the parks levy will be collected for five more years, starting in 2028.
If not renewed, the parks levy will expire in 2027.
Village council will vote to approve the final ballot language, which will include the collection rate, at a future meeting.
The existing levy pays for park maintenance and improvements.
It generates about $86,900 a year, assuming a 92-percent collection rate, according to the Richland County Auditor’s Office.
Lexington residents first passed the issue as a one mill levy in 1992.
Since then, the collection rate has dropped as property values increased.
Jarvis said village lawmakers considered putting a replacement levy on the ballot, which would have created a one mill tax based on today’s property values and generated about $48,000 more for the parks system.
But officials later found out municipalities can no longer put replacement levies on the ballot under Ohio law.
Since the levy was first passed in 1992, the village has acquired more park space.
“We have at least 50 more acres of parks than what we did when we first passed this.
Patriot Park, where the soccer fields are — that wasn’t around.
It was just a corn and soybean field,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis hopes to update some playground equipment at Bicentennial Park, where the large playground is more than 20 years old, and add a pavilion at the green space on the square.
If Lexington lawmakers want to generate additional revenue for the parks, council will have to put an additional levy on the ballot.
But for now, council opted to stick to a renewal.
“The residents of the village have always been very supportive of our parks.
I think they'll approve those increases, but we'll have to wait and see,” Jarvis said.
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