Laid-off cops due back as city voters OK tax rise

The police and fire staffs joined forces in working for passage of the income-tax increase.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police Chief Robert Bush expects furloughed police officers to be back on the streets by Friday.
In addition, laid-off firefighters should be back on the job next week, said Dave Cook, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 312.
That's all the result of voter passage of a 0.5 percent income-tax increase Tuesday.
The safety personnel are being called back immediately, even though collection of the new tax won't begin until Jan. 1.
The city laid off 15 firefighters and 11 police officers in mid-August because of budget constraints.
Fire and police personnel then banded together to seek passage of the tax increase, which voters approved by some 5,300 votes. The increase brings the city's total income tax to 2.75 percent.
The increase will bring in an additional $7.2 million a year, with 45 percent of the revenue going to police to pay for officers, 35 percent going to the fire department for firefighters, and 20 percent going into the city's capital improvement fund for items like street repair and equipment.
Key to the campaign
Cook said the key to the campaign's success was an unprecedented partnership among the police and fire staffs.
"Nothing like that has been done in years," he said.
Barry Ervin, president of the Youngstown Police Association, agreed.
"This was important," he said. "We worked together, we hit it hard and we did it right."
Ervin and Cook said they were confident all along that the measure would pass, even though it was on the ballot at the same time as a Mahoning County sales tax renewal.
"People want their fire and police services at full levels," Ervin said. "I thought it might have passed by a little bigger margin."
The fact that police and fire personnel carried the message, instead of political figures, lent credibility to the campaign, Cook said.
"We walked door to door to 10,000 houses," Cook said.
Other uses
Besides police and fire personnel, city officials have said the tax revenue will go toward projects like demolishing some downtown buildings and industrial eyesores.
It will also go toward redevelopment projects. For example, the city wants to expand its Salt Springs business park and establish a new one off Hubbard Road.
bjackson@vindy.com