LISBON County seeks opinions on taxes

Imposing a tax increase or asking for one at the ballot box are measures being considered by Columbiana County commissioners.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County commissioners will be seeking public input next week regarding how best to solve the county's fiscal crisis.
Public hearings are set for 9 a.m. Monday and 5 p.m. Thursday in the commissioners' meeting room at the county courthouse.
State law requires the sessions because commissioners are considering placing a proposed 0.5 percent sales tax increase on the November general election ballot.
But Commissioner Dave Cranmer noted Friday that a ballot issue is only one possible solution.
Imposing the half-percent tax is another choice commissioners may exercise, he said.
"All the options are there," Cranmer said.
Commissioners imposed a half-percent sales tax increase in December but scuttled the measure several weeks later before any of it could be collected.
The imposition was met with outcry from some county residents who began a referendum effort that could have blocked collection of the increase.
Budget crises
Cranmer acknowledged that lawsuits commissioners have been slapped with recently may also have a bearing on their decision to impose a tax or place a tax issue on the ballot.
The panel is being sued by the county Veterans' Service Commission, which claims commissioners underfunded the agency by $104,154 this year.
Commissioners also are being sued by Columbiana County Common Pleas Court judges, who are demanding that commissioners make up a nearly $487,753 shortage in funds needed to run the courts this year.
Commissioners have said they have no money to satisfy the demands of either lawsuit.
They were forced earlier this year to adopt a strict general fund budget because expenses to run county government are outpacing revenues.
In May, voters rejected a measure calling for a half-percent increase in the county's sales tax.
The increase would have generated about $3 million more per year.
The 2002 budget is so tight that some county offices have been forced to lay off employees or reduce the number of hours that they're open.
Commissioners said they recently have received more bad fiscal news.
The county had expected to receive about $1.9 million in state tax dollars known as local government funds.
But county officials have learned recently that the allocation has been trimmed to about $1.78 million by the state because tax revenues statewide are down.