Grandview Heights City Council on June 18 approved two resolutions declaring the necessity of a replacement levy for the city's existing operating levy and for a levy that would be dedicated for street improvement projects only.

The resolutions ask the Franklin County auditor to certify the current tax valuation and amount of revenue that would be generated by potential levy amounts.

As for the operating levy, the city is requesting the dollar amounts that would be generated by replacement tax levies of 6.0 mills, 6.2 mills and 6.3 mills and a renewal of the existing 8.3-mill levy, which is being collected at an effective rate of 4.28 mills for residential properties and 5.2 mills for commercial properties.

Council will decide which of the millage levels would meet the city's financial needs.

The final levy proposal would be for five years. The city's financial projections estimate that is how long it would be before revenue from the Grandview Yard development begins to make up for the loss in state revenue, Mayor Ray DeGraw said.

DeGraw has said that the loss of state funding would erase about two-thirds of the city's projected income-tax gains.

The other resolution council approved seeks the revenue amounts that would be generated by a proposed street improvement levy of 1 mill or 1.25 mills. This levy would be permanent, and the revenue it generates could be used only for projects related to street improvements.

"It's capital in nature, not operating in nature," DeGraw said.

Declining revenue for improvements has forced the city to defer maintenance work. As a result, city streets are deteriorating faster than the needed repairs can be addressed, he said.

Council will use the information the county provides to decide on the specific sizes of the levy requests that would be placed on the November ballot.

Council held first readings June 18 of resolutions to place the levy requests on the ballot. The amounts of the levy in each resolution are blank and will be filled in later. Those two resolutions were assigned to the finance committee.

The deadline for filing a ballot measure for the November ballot is Aug. 8.