Officials won't collect levy incorrectly placed on ballot

State law says felons can run for office but cannot serve.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County officials won't collect a levy approved by Rogers voters but are researching what to do about a convicted felon who was elected to Salineville's council.
Voters in Rogers approved a 1-mill replacement levy in the November election.
John Goempel, the chief deputy county auditor, said Monday, "I'm drafting a letter to the Ohio Department of Taxation. It has to go back on the ballot."
An Ohio Department of Taxation lawyer, Edward Samsel, said last week the levy should have not have been placed before voters.
The earliest the five-year issue should have gone before voters was in November 2006, according to Samsel. The existing levy expires then.
Since the issue was a replacement rather than a renewal, village voters agreed to pay a total of $2,311 a year instead of the $1,744 it's been generating.
Village officials could not be reached. It was not clear who prepared the documents sent to the board of elections.
A second issue in Rogers for a 1-mill fire department renewal levy, and a renewal for the Beaver Board of Education, contained the wrong dates for collection. The dates approved by voters would have created gaps in the funding. Samsel said the issues will be collected without any interruption since that was their intention.
Convicted felon
County Prosecutor Robert Herron is examining the case of David Berta of Salineville, who received the most votes in a field of five candidates for four council seats. Herron could not be reached.
Berta was charged with theft in 1991 and his probation was honorably terminated in 1995, according to county records. Details of his case were not available since the file is in Herron's possession.
James Lee, a spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State's Office, said it is not illegal in Ohio for a convicted felon to run for office, but it is illegal for a felon to serve the term.
"Is that an oddity to the Ohio Revised Code? Absolutely," Lee said.
In two similar cases recently in Mahoning County, winning candidates were able to quickly expunge their criminal records and serve the elected term.
Berta has not filed a request in county common pleas court to seal his record.
Notification
John Payne, the director of the county elections board, said that as a courtesy, elections workers will notify candidates and subdivisions if they happen to find a problem with a candidate's petition or an issue.
Candidates or governing bodies, such as school boards, provide information to the elections board such as the amount of an issue and the years it would be collected.
The auditor's office provides the elections board with a certified estimate of the amount an issue will raise. The auditor's office also provides a separate form with information about the years an existing tax has been collected.
But Lee said the elections board must only make sure the information it puts on the ballot is clear and understandable. He added that the board is under no legal obligation to check the facts that are presented to it.
Lee said there were 2,074 issues on the ballot around the state in November. The number of candidates around the state wasn't known.
With the high volume of candidates and issues, Lee said, "some are going to make it on the ballot that will likely be challenged."
wilkinson@vindy.com