Residents in three Mahoning County townships voted to support safety services Tuesday.

According to complete but unofficial results from Mahoning County Board of Elections, a police levy in Goshen was approved by a margin of 55% to 45%. EMS levies in Jackson and Springfield townships also passed with 55% of Jackson residents voting “yes,” and 59% of Springfield residents saying “yes.”

The Goshen Police Department was asking voters to replace a continuous levy passed in 2006 at 5.7 mills. At that time, the levy brought in about $380,000, officials said previously.

That money covers salaries, vehicles, operations and equipment.

Police Chief John Calko said prices for everything have gone up, meaning the department has been operating off the original levy, now collecting at 3.2 mills.

The replacement levy will bring in roughly $242,000 more each year and cost the taxpayer $200 for each $100,000 of the county auditor’s appraised value, Calko said previously.

The money will help fund the department in the coming years and allow officials to stop using money from the department’s savings account to fund operations.

At one time, that account had $100,000 in it, and Calko said it now has about $20,000 left.

The department has 11 full-time and nine part-time officers, and township officials said the money was desperately needed to offset rising prices and offer competitive wages to attract candidates.

Calko has said he’s fortunate to have a full roster even though the department offers among the lowest wages in the county.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP

Voters in Jackson Township sought a 4.9-mill additional levy to collect $725,981 per year for the fire department, a measure Chief Mike Mortimer has called “vital.”

The department has 20 firefighters and 12 are EMS certified. As a volunteer department, the average response time was 18.5 minutes. Mortimer said they’ve started to staff part-time firefighters, cutting that response time to around 9 minutes.

Failure of the levy would have meant the department would go back to staffing all volunteers.

He said previously the end goal is to have all personnel trained in both fire and EMS so they can assist with ambulance services. He added that 60% of the department’s call volume is EMS related.

The money will help with staffing and the replacement of a fire truck bought in 1992.

The average township home is valued at approximately $260,000, meaning the levy will cost the homeowner $446 per year.

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP

Voters in Springfield Township approved a new, 3.5-mill, continuous operations levy to support the fire department and EMS services.

Two years ago, the department moved from a volunteer staff to a paid, part-time staff, using the department’s savings to pay for the changes. Department officials have said they would have had to consider reducing staff or cutting services if the measure failed.

The levy will generate $851,668 a year. The cost for households with $100,000 in property value will be an additional $122 per year.

Springfield fire Chief Mike Wright has said call volume in Springfield has increased dramatically in recent years and the township has staffed an ambulance since 1950.

At that time, the department handled about one call per week, as compared to the current five to 10 calls per day, he said previously.