CAMPBELL — Passage of a 3.6-mill continuous tax levy Tuesday likely will go a long way toward addressing an acute, chronic and long-term ambulance shortage in the city, several officials say.

“If the ambulance levy does not pass, we cannot continue to have ambulance service in the city of Campbell,” George Levendis, city council president, said. “People are going to ask, ‘what if I need an ambulance?’ I don’t know.”

Levendis made his remarks during Wednesday’s council meeting while stressing what he and many others see as the need for voters to approve the measure.

The levy would generate about $250,000 per year and would cost the owner of a $100,000 home roughly $120 annually, Levendis said. He added the money would be used strictly for an ambulance and related supplies.

Passage also would allow the city to enter into a three-year contract with North Canton-based Emergency Medical Transport for ambulance service 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

EMT began its service to Campbell on Sept. 1, but the city has just enough American Rescue Plan dollars left to pay the company through Dec. 31, Levendis said.

He also has stressed the city of nearly 8,000 lacks the funds to run its own ambulance service, and that if the measure is defeated Tuesday, he and other city officials will have meetings beginning in January to explore other possible options to address the problem.

A woman at Wednesday’s session who intends to vote for the levy voiced her concern that information about it has been scant and hasn’t reached enough residents, to which city Councilman Robert Stanko, D-4th Ward, said he’s trying to do his part to spread the word about its importance.

Others, such as Councilman Timothy O’Brien, D-1st Ward, also said they are using word of mouth to inform voters.

O’Brien, who works at the Carl Nunziato Veterans Administration Clinic in Youngstown, said he speaks with many people at work as well as constituents in his ward. A large number of city residents are elderly and don’t have access to technology, a situation that makes talking to them in person take on added significance, he said.

“I try to catch them up to speed,” he said.