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Brooke levies to be in general election

WELLSBURG — Renewal of three five-year levies for Brooke County services will be added to the ballot for the Nov. 6 general election.

Tim Ennis, president of the Brooke County Commission, said including the levies in the November election, instead of a special election usually held for them, will save $50,000 in taxpayers’ money.

If approved, the county’s ambulance excess levy will generate $1,060,490 per year for five years for the county’s ambulance service; county museum; county courthouse’s maintenance, repair and improvement; Brooke County West Virginia University Extension Service; Brooke Hills Park; county health department; county senior programs, including the senior center; Healthways, including the Brooke County Opportunity Center and costs for mental hygiene proceedings; and the Brooke County, Follansbee and Mary H. Weir public libraries.

The county’s fire levy, if approved, will raise $492,746 per year for five years, with that amount to be divided evenly among the Bethany, Bethany Pike, Beech Bottom, Colliers, Follansbee, Franklin, Hooverson Heights, Wellsburg, Windsor Heights, McKinleyville and Weirton fire departments.

And the animal shelter levy, if approved, will raise $428,475 per year for five years for the shelter’s operations.

Ennis said while the election is still four months away, the commission had to act Tuesday to include levies on its ballots.

Last week the commissioners also agreed to merge 10 of its precincts, which will change the polling sites for some voters.

Voters in Precinct 1, who had voted at Wellsburg Methodist Church, will be merged with those in Precinct 6, who vote at the Community of Christ Church in Wellsburg.

Voters in Precinct 28, who had voted at the Follansbee City Building, will be merged with those in Precinct 31, who vote at Jefferson Primary School.

County Clerk Sylvia Benzo said three other mergers will have little effect on voters since they already vote at the same sites. With the merging of Precinct 4 into Precinct 5, voters in both will continue to vote at Wellsburg Primary School but will no longer need to enter through separate doors. And though Precinct 25 has been merged into Precinct 26, voters in both will continue to vote at the Freedom Place II apartment building in Weirton.

Benzo said the new merged precincts will be relatively equal in population and eliminate the need for 15 poll workers.

The move means a savings for the county, which was required to pay at least $150 for each poll worker who worked on Election Day and $170 for those who, as supply commissioners, oversaw the distribution and collection of materials at polling sites that day.

But Benzo said it also reduces a growing difficulty in filling those positions.

She noted other changes in polling sites will result from the closing of two schools. She said the polling places for precincts voting at Follansbee Middle School and Beech Bottom Primary School will vote at the Follansbee Community House and Beech Bottom Community Christian Church, respectively.

Benzo said the county may continue to use Colliers and Millsop primary schools, which school officials have closed but plan to use for other purposes.

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