Wednesday, October 20, 2004
The anti-tax committee filed a complaint with the elections board.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- An organization created to defeat Mahoning County's 0.5 percent permanent sales tax on the Nov. 2 ballot is placing yard signs in the county that appear to violate state election law, the director of the county's elections board says.
The "Vote No" yard signs do not include a required disclaimer stating who is responsible for them, elections director Michael Sciortino said.
Sciortino said he expects complaints to be filed against the "No Means No Committee," the organization created to defeat the sales tax, to come any day.
Once the complaints are filed, the Mahoning County Board of Elections will forward them to the Ohio Elections Commission to investigate, he said.
Greg Sherlock, coordinator for Citizens to Continue the Progress, a pro-sales tax committee, said his organization will meet today and discuss filing a complaint.
Attempts Tuesday to reach William Flickinger of Youngstown, the organization's treasurer, weren't successful. Flickinger filed a statement of treasurer for the committee Friday with the elections board.
Flickinger unsuccessfully ran for county commissioner in the March Democratic primary and is a frequent caller to local talk radio shows using the moniker of "Hollywood Bill."
What's in complaint
On behalf of the committee, Flickinger filed a complaint with the elections board saying the pro-sales tax committee is misleading the public by stating the tax isn't new.
Sciortino and Sherlock said the complaint has no merit.
A five-year renewal of the 0.5 percent sales tax was defeated in the March primary. Instead of trying for another five-year renewal, the board of county commissioners opted to put a proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot to make the tax continuous.
In the complaint, Flickinger wrote the old tax gave a percentage to communities in the county, and the tax on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn't. He also wrote that the old tax was for five years, and this one is permanent.
Flickinger is demanding in the complaint that the billboards and yard signs be removed because they say in large letters that Issue 2 is "not a new tax."
Sherlock said the ballot language as well as what is listed on the billboards and yard signs received approval from the Ohio secretary of state's office. He says the signs state that the issue is a 0.5 percent sales tax continuance.
"Their complaints are baseless," Sherlock said.
The tax generates about $13 million annually, about 25 percent of the county's annual general fund income. There is also a second 0.5 percent sales tax that expires in 2007.
skolnick@vindy.com