Metroparks Toledo began its campaign for a 10-year renewal levy Tuesday night with an event at Wildwood Preserve Metropark.
The park district is asking voters this Nov. 8 to keep intact the 0.9-mill levy it received from them for operations in 2012.
Known as Issue 7, the proposed millage rate would cost owners of area homes and businesses less than $25 a year for every $100,000 of assessed, taxable property value. It breaks down to about $2.08 a month at that level, according to the group behind the drive known as Citizens Campaign for Metroparks.
If approved, the levy will generate about $6.8 million annually for general operations.
The lone speaker at the event, attended by about 30 people in the backdrop of children playing at the main Wildwood Metropark playground, was Metroparks Toledo Board of Park Commissioners President Scott Savage.
Mr. Savage said the park district has a 94-year history of people “who recognized the critical importance of preserving, protecting, and activating natural open spaces.”
“So we really stand on the shoulders of those visionaries today as we chart the way forward for the next 94 years,” he said.
Support from Lucas County voters is “not taken lightly or for granted,” Mr. Savage said.
He cited several of the park district’s accomplishments in recent years, beginning with fulfilling its promise to have a metropark within five miles of every Lucas County resident.
“In 2020, when we dedicated Manhattan Marsh [Metropark], we made good on that promise,” Mr. Savage said. “Today, every citizen in Lucas County lives within five miles of a metropark. We’re very proud of that.”
Accomplishing that took a fair amount of land acquisition, and the park district responded by opening 10 new metroparks in 10 years.
Other recent highlights cited by Mr. Savage included:
• The construction of Cannaley Treehouse Village at Oak Openings Metropark, built entirely with private funds.
• A greater commitment to access and inclusion for disabled people.
• Hundreds of acres in the Oak Openings corridor and 1,000 acres of coastal wetland preserved. Much of the latter was the result of the Howard Marsh Metropark being created from farmland in eastern Lucas County’s Jerusalem Township.
• The Glass City Metropark and the pedestrian bridge that connects it to International Park.
The park district often uses its tax revenue to help leverage grants for big-ticket items, such as the $200 million investment it is making in the downtown area over several years through the Glass City Metropark, the Glass City Riverwalk, International Park, physical and ecological improvements to the Maumee River shoreline, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge, the Vistula neighborhood, Craig Memorial Bridge, an East Toledo neighborhood near Waite High School, and related areas.
Millions of dollars have been raised privately for that work, along with major grants issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation and numerous other agencies.
Scott Carpenter, Metroparks Toledo spokesman, said money raised from the levy will be used to maintain and improve every park in its system. A separate levy voters approved in 2020 was use to help pay for a portion of Glass City Riverwalk and related projects, he said.
“The reality is that conservation and preservation create economic success. And we have plenty of evidence to support that claim,” Mr. Savage said.
First Published September 13, 2022, 11:52 p.m.
