Amid an emotional wave of respect for police, fire and emergency workers nationally, local police and fire levies came out big winners at the ballot box.

        Hamilton County voters approved or renewed all nine emergency-services levies on the ballot.

        Some of the largest were fire and police levies in Springfield Township, and a new fire levy in Forest Park.

        Springfield Township voters replaced a 7.61-mill police levy passed in 1997 and approved 2.5 additional mills for police protection. The township also had a fire levy that included 4.5 mills to replace a 1997 levy along with 3.5 new mills on the ballot.

        The police issue will raise about $5.5 million annually, including an increase of about $1.86 million, township officials have said. The money will be used for day-to-day expenses and for equipment.

        A five-year plan for the department also includes the hiring of four or five officers, who would be added to the department's current roster of 41 full-time sworn officers.

        The fire levy will increase that department's funding from $2.1 million to almost $4.3 million annually.

        The money will be used for daily expenses, new equipment and to hire 15-18 full-time firefighter/paramedics over the next five years, officials have said. The goal is to have eight firefighter/paramedics and four firefighter/EMTs scheduled between two firehouses around the clock.

        Voters approved a 4.75-mill fire levy in Forest Park that will generate about $1.4 million a year in new revenue for a department that has been understaffed, said Assistant Fire Chief Mike Rupp.

        “We have a total of seven people, five in headquarters and two at the station on Southland,” Mr. Rupp said. “We expect to increase the staffing to a total of 12, with seven in headquarters and five at the station.”

        The levy will add an increase in property taxes. For a $100,000 house the tax increase will be $138 annually.

        The new levy will join an existing levy of 4.95 mills, which brings in $1.3 million a year.

        “We have been going door-to-door talking to people about the levy,” Mr. Rupp said. “This is strictly for an increase in manpower and to replace two civil-defense sirens.”

        This northern Cincinnati suburb has continued to grow, jumping from 18,332 in 1990 to close to 21,000 in 2000.

        The number of emergency runs has increased with the population. In 1990, the fire department made 1,600 runs. Last year, twice as many.

        “We usually get a lot of support for our fire levies,” said Councilwoman Clara Pugh, who chairs the Public Safety Committee. “We are at the point where we have to start replacing fire equipment. We have old trucks.”

        Other emergency-services levies on Tuesday's ballot that were winning approval were a new, 2-mill fire levy for five years in Addyston; an additional 2.5-mill fire levy for the Fairfax/Madison Place Joint Fire and Rescue District; a fire-levy decrease in Cleves; and fire-levy renewals in Lockland and Green Township. Elmwood Place voters faced a police renewal levy.

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