Officials spread facts on sales tax

Commissioners must overcome an uninformed public and a lack of money.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County Commissioner David Ludt has a simple message that he's been sharing with everyone he meets.
"Pass the word. Pass the tax," Ludt said. "That's what I'm telling everybody."
It's his way of trying to drum up support for renewal a 0.5-percent sales tax that's on the ballot in November.
But with the election just a month away, Ludt said commissioners appear to have their work cut out for them. It will take more than a six-word catch phrase to get the job done.
Commissioners recently held public hearings in Poland Township, Campbell, Youngstown and Sebring. The intent was to glean information from residents about the possibility of commissioners' imposing the tax rather than placing it on the ballot for renewal.
Ludt said he learned a lot from those meetings.
"What I found out as I traveled the county is that people are not well-informed," Ludt said.
Tax facts
He said many voters were not aware that the tax is already on the books and is a renewal, not a new tax. Many confused the issue with an income tax being sought only in Youngstown. Many didn't know what the $12 million a year brought in by the tax is used for.
The blame, he said, falls squarely on commissioners' shoulders.
"It's our job to inform the public of these things and we're not doing a very good job," Ludt said. "We need to educate everybody."
He said commissioners will do their best to stump for the tax, which is used for general operating expenses, but will need help from other county officials and employees to get the word out.
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said it will take more than that to get the tax passed. She said manpower and money -- especially money -- are the keys.
Sherlock said successful sales tax campaigns in 1997 and 1999 worked because they were community-focused and driven by labor and business leaders instead of government officials.
And those campaigns each raised about $70,000 to $80,000 in contributions, much of which was spent for advertising to get the word out about the need for the taxes and how they would be spent.
"Ultimately, to win this thing you have to have money available to get it in the media and out to the masses," Sherlock said.
Committee
A committee has been formed to help promote the tax, but Sherlock said she's not sure how much the group has raised.
"I don't think it's anywhere near that [1997 and 1999] amount, though," Sherlock said.
Joseph Caruso, who's heading up the effort, could not be reached to comment.
Without enough money to buy advertising, the campaign effort will have to take a more grass-roots approach, Sherlock said.
Commissioner Ed Reese said raising money for sales tax campaigns has become almost a continuous process, which makes it difficult to keep contributions coming in.
Besides the tax that will expire in December, the county has another 0.5 percent, five-year sales tax that will expire in December 2004.
"It seems like every two years we're involved in a sales tax campaign," Reese said. "It's tough to keep going back to the well and asking these same people and businesses to give. Eventually the well runs dry."
Role of businesses, labor
That's why he and Sherlock said it's vital for labor and business leaders to step forward and help push the tax. "We can't do it ourselves," Reese said.
Commissioners shouldn't be out in front anyway because that tends to make the tax a political issue, Sherlock said.
"The tax shouldn't be about the commissioners or other officeholders," Sherlock said. "It should be about keeping county government functioning."
She's concerned that the specter of having the tax imposed by commissioners if it fails at the polls will discourage people from going out to vote.
Commissioners tabled resolutions last week to impose the tax for five years, 10 years or permanently. Sherlock, who voted against the action, said they should have just let the issues die.
But Reese and Ludt, who voted in favor of keeping the issues on the table, said it was important to keep available the option of imposing the tax if necessary.
"Our job isn't to make popular decisions. Our job is to make sure services are available to Mahoning County," Reese said. "I think leaving that option open was the responsible thing to do."
Local labor and business leaders had urged commissioners to impose the tax permanently instead of placing it on the ballot, but commissioners opted against that.