CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Chillicothe voters rejected a 0.2 percent municipal income tax for street repairs in the Nov. 3, 2026 general election — the second time in 2026 the proposal has failed — the Chillicothe Gazette reported from unofficial results of the Ross County Board of Elections.
The levy failed with 4,258 votes against and 3,191 in favor across the city’s precincts, the Gazette reported, a result the Scioto Valley Guardian also reported at 57.2 percent against to 42.8 percent in favor, with all city precincts reporting.
The proposal would have renewed a levy voters first approved in 2015 to support street paving, repairs and improvements, the Daily Federation reported, summarizing the Gazette and the Scioto Valley Guardian. Collections under that earlier levy ended in 2025, and the city’s income tax rate fell to 1.8 percent before the November vote; passage would have restored the rate to 2 percent, the Daily Federation reported.
This was the measure’s second rejection this year. In the May 5 primary, 1,914 voters opposed it and 1,728 supported it, WOUB Public Media reported via the Daily Federation. City Council subsequently returned a nearly identical proposal to voters on the November ballot, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported via the Daily Federation.
For Chillicothe drivers and residents, the result leaves street funding where the earlier levy expiration put it: the income tax rate remains at 1.8 percent, and the dedicated street-paving revenue the measure would have restored will not be collected. Any new approach — a revised proposal, a different funding source, or a scaled-back paving schedule — would have to come from City Council.
What happens next is a council decision. Council members who placed the measure on the ballot twice in one year must now decide whether to try again in a future election, seek other revenue, or reprioritize the street program within the existing budget. NewsForce247 will follow the council’s first post-election discussion of street funding.
The November result was not close in either direction: the margin was more than a thousand votes in a city election, wider in percentage terms than the May primary defeat, which suggests council members face a persuasion problem as well as a funding one if they choose to return to voters a third time.