Here are the 28 southwest Ohio villages under threat of dissolution from new law

A new Ohio law meant to dwindle the total number of taxing jurisdictions in the state has at least 28 local villages in its crosshairs so far.

Those 28 villages have had at least one village elected position go without a candidate in the elections of 2021, 2023, or the upcoming 2025 election, which means they’ll fail a new state-mandated audit scheduled after the 2030 Census.

Failure of that audit automatically puts a question on the local ballot to dissolve that village’s government and fold its assets and territory into the nearest township. A simple majority of voters will seal a village’s fate, one way or the other.

Here’s a list of those villages, sorted by population:

NameCounty / partial county 2020 Population total
West Milton VillageMiami 4,697
Cedarville VillageGreene 4,257
Covington VillageMiami 2,548
New Miami VillageButler 2,217
Jamestown VillageGreene 2,052
Morrow VillageWarren2,049
Bradford VillageMiami / Darke 1,796
South Charleston VillageClark 1,706
Pleasant Hill VillageMiami 1,241
Farmersville VillageMontgomery 975
Seven Mile VillageButler 712
Millville VillageButler 634
Phillipsburg VillageMontgomery 498
Corwin VillageWarren 484
North Hampton VillageClark 457
Fletcher VillageMiami 451
Spring Valley VillageGreene 415
Verona VillagePreble / Montgomery 403
South Vienna VillageClark 402
Laura VillageMiami 398
Tremont City VillageClark 352
Casstown VillageMiami 270
Bowersville VillageGreene 261
Donnelsville VillageClark 255
Catawba VillageClark 245
Potsdam VillageMiami 225
Ludlow Falls VillageMiami 175
Clifton VillageGreene 131

Nine area villages in the area have successfully fielded a candidate for every village opening in 2021, 2023, and 2025.

But they could still face a dissolution vote if they can’t prove that they provide at least five out of the 10 following services: police protection, firefighting services, emergency medical services, garbage collection, water service, sewer service, road maintenance, parks or recreation services, human services, or a village-operated library.

Those villages are:

NameCounty / partial county2020 population
New Lebanon VillageMontgomery 3,796
Yellow Springs VillageGreene 3,697
Waynesville VillageWarren 2,669
Enon VillageClark 2,449
Maineville VillageWarren 1,405
Harveysburg VillageWarren 554
Butlerville VillageWarren 155
Pleasant Plain VillageWarren 129
Jacksonburg VillageButler 55

Here’s an interactive map comparing the two datasets:


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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.

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