LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio - Township trustees are telling residents that passage of a road levy in November is imperative to making roads smooth and driveable.

"If we don't [pass it], they have to realize we won't be paving roads," says trustee chairwoman Jodi Stoyak.

A similar levy failed two years ago, but now Stoyak says the township is working with significantly less money after reductions in revenue from the state and in the local government fund, a personal property tax that has been eliminated, and a state tax that will be eliminated.

She says the road department has been patching up the township's 60 miles of road, but it's only a temporary fix.

The only four roads that have been paved recently were done so through grant money that required matching funds. Stoyak says the general fund doesn't have the money to allow the township to get those kind of grants again.

At $1,000 a mile to pave the roads, Stoyak says the levy needs to be passed if the residents want the roads paved.

The road levy will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot for township voters and, if passed, remain in effect for 5 years.