EAST PALESTINE City weighs reducing income-tax credit

EAST PALESTINE -- City residents who work in another city that has an income tax might be in for some bad news.
Facing a shortfall of about $300,000 this year and some $200,000 in 2003, city council is considering several cost-cutting measures.
City Finance Director Connie Robinson said city council will vote over the next few weeks on ordinances to either reduce the 1 percent income tax credit to residents who work outside the city or eliminate it entirely.
Reducing the tax credit to 1/2 percent will save the city $73,000 per year, and eliminating it entirely will save $147,000 per year, she said.
Robinson said the city is also saving money by not replacing a police sergeant who retired, and by replacing a full-time dispatcher position with two part-time employees.
In addition, she said, Rich Pillsbury, who has been a part-time patrolman in the city for about 20 years, will give up his position as street department supervisor to become a full-time patrolman.
Savings
City Manager Gary Clark will handle the street department supervision. Not replacing Pillsbury will save the city about $50,000, she said.
Another option that would save about $110,000 per year is to not pay back money the city borrowed from the electric trust to help fund sewer system improvements. About $92,000 annually is put into the electric trust fund from the sewer fund, about $6,000 from the water department, $9,400 from the street department, and $28,000 from the general fund, she said.