Election signs fill the streets and lawns of the Village of Batavia and neighborhoods within Batavia Township.One of the various signs you'll see are either for or against a new Batavia Township Fire EMS Levy.This one encompass es everybody as a whole, Batavia Township and the Batavia Village," Central Joint Fire EMS District firefighter Jared Shouse said.Shouse is a part of the Political Action Committee (PAC) 'Friends of Batavia Township Fire PAC' and also serves on the local firefighters' union.He said this levy would offer his fellow firefighters stability in terms of staffing and funding.Watch to hear arguments from both sides of the Batavia Township Fire EMS Levy: 'We just want to maintain that' | Batavia voters deciding the future of their local fire departmentIf this would become a thing, that all the personnel from CJFED will go into a township fire department so no one loses their jobs," Shouse said.If the levy passes on Election Day, CJFED would dissolve and a new department would be reorganized under the control of Batavia Township. It would no longer be led by a collaborative board from both the township and the village.Shouse told me that organizers were originally concerned about the village's dissolution before that petition was rejected by the Clermont County Board of Elections. One of his biggest concerns is stability moving forward.Weve put a lot of effort into maintaining our services and doing our jobs every single day and we just want to maintain that," Shouse said.What would happen if this levy fails? I asked.If this levy fails, we will cut additional staffing," Shouse said.The new levy would propose an additional $294 per year per $100,000 of taxable value on your property tax. But the CJFED levy dollars would go away, subtracting $149 from the cost, bringing the average total per $100,00 to approximately $145. That data was provided by the PAC's website.I spoke with one village resident about his concerns over potential new taxes.If it passes and goes to the township, then it raises everybodys taxes a lot and a lot of people arent looking into that and seeing that," Adam Craver said.Opponents of the Levy, a PAC called The Citizens to Save the Village of Batavia, Ohio, said on its website that this levy would remove the village's representation regarding decision-making with the local fire department.CJFED is currently led by a board of representatives from both the village and the township, with each entity swapping majority control every two years.Shouse spoke about the arguments about the levy and what may come next.With the current back-and-forth of pro this, pro that, everyone's getting lost to it, and its getting all political now and it needs to get back to the services provided, and currently it is maxing out what we can do," Shouse said.Both PACs have detailed websites about why they hold each stance:Friends of Batavia Township Fire PACThe Citizens to Save the Village of Batavia, Ohio ...read more read less