OHIO SUPREME COURT Ruling quashes city income tax issue

The problem started when two officers used incorrect addresses.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A proposed income tax increase, pushed by the police union to hire back laid-off officers, will not appear on the ballot next month.
The Ohio Supreme Court recently rejected a motion by the police union to essentially force the city to place the issue on the ballot.
"I feel bad they didn't give us a chance," said Bob Beck, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association.
Mayor Jane Campbell is pleased by the news because her top priority is to help pass a property tax increase Nov. 2 for city schools, spokesman David Fitz said.
The police union wanted to increase the city's income tax from 2 percent to 2.25 percent. The increase would have applied to all people who work in Cleveland, regardless of where they live, but would have been voted on only by city residents.
The increase would have generated about $30 million to rehire 250 police officers and 70 firefighters who lost their jobs during this year's budget cuts.
The police union sent officers out this summer to gather 5,000 signatures of registered city voters to get the issue on the ballot.
The clerk of city council ruled in August that two of the six police officers who started the petition drive listed their addresses incorrectly, invalidating thousands of signatures.
The union filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court, arguing the incorrect addresses were minor technicalities. But the union missed a deadline to file follow-up paperwork, essentially killing its own case.
The union filed another appeal, asking to withdraw and then refile its lawsuit, but the Supreme Court rejected the plea.