Officials and rec director brief council on May 6 renewal levy for Orange recreation

Lisa Taylor, co-chair of the Citizens for the Continuation of Orange Community Education and Recreation, and Jill Corsock, director of Orange Community Recreation, spoke to the Orange Village Council on April 2, 2025, about a renewal levy for recreation services that is on the May 6 ballot.

Taylor said the levy is a renewal and "means there would be no increase in taxes," and described the levy’s role in funding the department. Corsock said the levy presently funds about 20% of OCR’s operating expenses and emphasized that OCR receives no funds from the Orange City School District.

OCR staff and volunteer organizers told the council that last year the department recorded about 20,000 program registrations overall and that 3,600 of those registrations came from residents of Orange Village. Corsock said the levy rate on the ballot is $28 per $100,000 of home value, unchanged since the levy first passed in 1995. She also noted the Homestead Exemption and rollback mechanisms affect the amount homeowners actually pay.

Taylor and Corsock outlined services paid in part by the levy, including youth sports, summer camps, the Orange Early Childhood preschool, before-and-after care, Stagecrafters theater, the Adaptive Recreation program, the Orange Art Center, senior programming, adult recreation and aquatics. They said OCR’s budget is also supported primarily by registration fees; Corsock said about 80% of OCR revenue comes from those fees.

Several residents and council members praised OCR’s programs during the public comment period and recounted family experiences with preschool and Stagecrafters productions. Taylor and Corsock encouraged residents who want to endorse the levy or request yard signs to use the campaign website, voteyesfororangerec.com, and to contact OCR with questions.

The levy was presented as a renewal only; no vote by the council was required or taken on the levy during the April 2 meeting.