MAHONING COUNTY Propose a sales tax for 10 years or more, backers tell officials

The second hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Put it on and put it on for a long time.
That was the message to Mahoning County commissioners about seeking a new sales tax.
The commissioners were urged to seek either a tax that would be collected for 10 years or a tax that would be collected indefinitely.
The comments came Thursday at the first of two public hearings on the issue.
Agencies and officials who receive portions of the sales tax told the commissioners that collecting it for a long period would allow the agencies to be effective by eliminating budgetary headaches.
The county has two 0.5 percent sales taxes that together generate about $26 million year. One expires in November 2004. The commissioners will have to decide if the tax would go before voters in March or November.
Struggle resumes
"Here we go again," said Commissioner Ed Reese at the start of the hearing. He estimated this is the 12th time the commissioners have wrestled with the issue because voters have repeatedly defeated the tax.
However, the second sales tax was renewed in November 2002 for five years. Township trustees, who get a share of the sales tax, told the commissioners that the support of the townships helped it pass.
Abe Bricker, a Goshen Township trustee, said he benefits three ways from the tax: As a farmer who gets help from the Soil and Water Conservation District, which gets sales tax money; as the grandfather of a girl in 4-H, which also gets sales tax revenue; and as a trustee.
Susan Smith, a project coordinator at the soil and water district, noted it is working on three programs: land use planning, water runoff and education.
The district gets about $95,000 in sales tax money, and up to 91 percent of that amount in matching federal funds. Without the sales tax income, she told the commissioners, "It's very hard to run programs."
Support for proposal
Many of those at the hearing supported the second of seven proposed taxes. That proposal is for a 10-year tax starting in 2005.
Under that proposal, funds would continue to be earmarked for the trustees and soil and water, as well as county roads, economic development, and Ohio State University programs, including 4-H.
No one at the hearing spoke against the tax. The second hearing will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the commissioner's hearing room, in the courthouse basement.
wilkinson@vindy.com