ATHENS, Ohio — Athens County voters elected a new county commissioner and rejected eight levies, including a countywide levy for the Athens City-County Health Department, in the November 3 general election, according to unofficial results from the Athens County Board of Elections published by the Athens County Independent.
Democrat Autumn Brown defeated Republican Sarah Smith for the Board of Commissioners seat, 12,976 votes to 7,087, the board’s unofficial results showed. Brown will succeed Lenny Eliason, with the term beginning January 1, 2027, according to the Athens County Independent. Nearly 60% of Athens County voters cast ballots in the election, the Board of Elections said.
The night’s closest countywide fight was the health department levy. The additional 1-mill levy, which would have raised an estimated $1.5 million a year over 10 years at a cost of about $35 per $100,000 of appraised value, failed by 213 votes — 10,001 against to 9,788 for, according to the unofficial results published by the Athens County Independent.
Another squeaker came in the Alexander Local School District, where a proposed 0.75% income tax failed by 21 votes across Athens, Meigs and Vinton counties — 2,428 against to 2,407 for, according to unofficial results the Athens County Independent drew from the three county boards. Athens City School District voters went the other way, renewing the district’s 1% income tax on a continuing basis, 5,675 to 4,034.
Most of the levies voters rejected were new-money requests, while renewals for fire protection, roads and village expenses largely passed across the county’s townships and villages, the results published by the Athens County Independent showed. Uncontested races were also settled: Republican Jill Davidson was elected county auditor, and Patrick Lang and Zachary Saunders won six-year terms on the Athens County Court of Common Pleas, in the general and probate-juvenile divisions respectively.
The results remain unofficial. The Athens County Board of Elections will certify the results later this month, according to the Athens County Independent — the step that makes Brown’s win, the health levy’s defeat and the Alexander school tax’s 21-vote loss final.
Photo: Stch2022, CC BY-SA