Galena mayor Tom Hopper said the village’s upcoming operating levy is a necessity.

Galena Village Council earlier this year passed a resolution to place a 2-mill, four-year replacement operating levy on the May 4 ballot.

It will replace a similar levy passed in 2006. This is the last year for collection of the current levy.

Operating levy money is used for operating funds, including road salt, road repairs, matching funds for rebuilding Walnut Street, special events in the village including Easter egg hunts and Christmas tree lightings, and park maintenance including mowing and planting, Hopper said.

The levy will cost residents $5.11 per month or $61.26 per year per $100,000 of home valuation, said fiscal officer Marty Mazzie.

The levy is slated to bring in $35,890 per year for operating expenses.

If the new operating levy passes in May, collection would begin in 2011, village attorney Ken Molnar has said.

Hopper said he was “optimistic” the levy will pass in May.

“The residents have always supported it before, and it’s the same amount we’ve had the last several times,” he said.

No committees or other volunteer groups have been out promoting the levy, Hopper said. Officials are merely relying on “word of mouth.”

The village has not increased its millage for operating levies for a long time.

Galena has sought 2-mill levies as far back as records go for the Delaware County Board of Elections, said Brian Mumford, a BOE official.

The earliest date that has a record of the millage is 1966, he said.

He couldn’t specify on anything farther back because the records were incomplete, he said.

Galena council member Libby Clark said she thought the levy would pass.

“I’m optimistic because it’s a replacement levy. We’re not asking for anything additional; it’s to replace what we have,” she said.

Council member Nancy Feole echoed a similar thought.

“I think Galena citizens understand that the levy that has been in force until now is going away and so this one picks up where that one leaves off. It’s a replacement levy, but it’s not a higher tax on folks,” Feole said.

Mazzie said that village officials are mindful of residents’ tight budgets.

“Due to economy, we’ve tried to be considerate. That’s why we haven’t increased it,” she said. “The cost of living goes up and the cost of running a village goes up, but we’ve tried not to raise the millage,” she said.

The levy accounts for about 5 percent of the village’s total operating budget, she said.

Other forms of revenue include income taxes, state gasoline taxes, money collected from licenses and permits and interest earned from the bank, Mazzie said.