North Royalton voters approved a five-year increase to the city's emergency medical services levy on Nov. 3, providing funding for three additional firefighter-paramedics as the Fire Department mourned the loss of one of its own.

Issue 57 passed with 55.68% of the vote, with all 23 precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. The results were also reported by cleveland.com.

The vote came the same day North Royalton firefighter-paramedic Ryan Milligan died from injuries suffered while battling a house fire in Broadview Heights the previous night. Another North Royalton firefighter, Andrew Protsman, was injured in the blaze and remained hospitalized, according to WKYC.

Issue 57 renews the city's existing 1.7-mill EMS levy and adds 0.3 mill, creating a 2-mill levy for five years beginning with tax year 2027. Collections are scheduled to begin in 2028.

The levy is expected to generate approximately $2.27 million annually for emergency medical services, about $410,000 more per year than a straight renewal would have produced, according to cleveland.com.

For homeowners, the levy will cost approximately $57 annually for every $100,000 in property value, up from about $47 under the previous levy.

Rising emergency calls drive staffing request

Fire Chief Robert Chegan said before the election that the additional personnel were needed to keep up with growing demand for emergency services.

In an October interview with cleveland.com, Chegan said calls to the department had increased 24% since 2020 and 48% since 2015.

The department received approximately 3,000 calls in 2015, 3,500 in 2020 and nearly 4,500 in 2025, he said. Most of the increase involved emergency medical calls.

The levy will allow the city to increase its roster from 36 firefighter-paramedics to 39. The previous five-year, 1.7-mill levy was approved by voters in May 2022 and helped the department reach its current staffing level.

City Council considered renewing the existing levy without an increase before deciding to ask voters for the additional 0.3 mill. A renewal-only proposal was projected to generate approximately $1.86 million annually, compared with about $2.27 million under Issue 57.

The city's EMS operations also receive support beyond property-tax revenue. A cleveland.com review of North Royalton's financial audits found that the General Fund transferred approximately $2.22 million into the EMS Levy Fund in 2024. The fund received about $1.82 million in property-tax revenue that year and reported approximately $4.1 million in expenditures.

In 2023, the EMS fund received about $1.81 million in property-tax revenue and a $2 million General Fund transfer, while reporting approximately $3.65 million in expenditures.

Those figures show that the EMS levy is one part of the city's funding for emergency medical services, rather than the department's sole source of operating money.

Fire department mourns Ryan Milligan

Milligan died Monday night, Nov. 2, after suffering injuries while responding to a house fire in Broadview Heights. He was 36, according to WKYC's report identifying him.

Protsman was also injured while fighting the fire. The department and community rallied around the firefighters and their families following the incident.

North Royalton Mayor Paul Marnecheck said Nov. 3 that neighboring fire departments had offered to help maintain staffing while the department dealt with the loss and the injury.

“Other departments have already been in contact with our chief and said, 'We got you. We'll cover the shifts,'” Marnecheck told WKYC.

An online fundraiser for Milligan's family had raised more than $200,000, according to WKYC. The cause of the Broadview Heights fire remained under investigation.