WRTA sales tax to be on ballot

WRTA has some work to do, a commissioner says.

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County commissioners voted unanimously to enable placement of a countywide Western Reserve Transit Authority sales tax on the March 4 ballot.

They stopped short, however, of enthusiastically endorsing the proposed new public transit tax.

“Today, I’m neutral on the measure but support the right of WRTA to ask us to grant them the authority to place it on the ballot,” said Commissioner John McNally. “Over the next couple of months, I’ll make it clear one way or another which way I’m going to go on this particular issue,” he said, adding that public transit in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys demands a regional approach.

“They asked us to put it on the ballot. We are the conduit. Without us, they can’t put it on the ballot. ... But they have to promote it,” said Commissioner David Ludt. “It’s up to the voters,” he said, adding that he’d like to see a performance audit performed on the transit authority.

McNally said he wants more information about proposed bus routes and schedules under a countywide system. “You need the trustees in the bigger townships and in the rural areas to get on board with this issue, or it’s going to have a very difficult time passing,” he observed.

“WRTA really has their work cut out for them in convincing the townships and the outlying areas and they’re going to have to prove to the people — to the voters — that the revenue meets the need,” Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said.

He added, however, “We all know public transportation is very important to our communities, specifically to the disadvantaged, to the elderly and to the blind, but this is WRTA’s issue. They have to go out and sell it to the public, and we wish them the very best.”

Although the county commissioners were somewhat noncommittal, Youngstown City Councilwoman Carol Rimedio Righetti, D-4th, was enthusiastic in her support of the countywide tax and bus service.

“If the gasoline continues to go up [in price], I have a feeling we’re all going to be riding WRTA,” she said. “I think we need to service all the people of Mahoning County, not just Youngstown.”

“What we’re looking to do is to become a truly regional transit operation and, I think, make a big difference in the Mahoning Valley,” said James Ferraro, WRTA executive director. “It’s a minimal cost,” he said of the proposed sales tax.

The commissioners passed in a special meeting Tuesday a resolution to enable placement of a 0.25 percent, five-year sales tax on the primary ballot to support countywide bus service by the authority.

The sales tax, which would raise $7.5 million a year, would replace two property tax levies in the city of Youngstown. Those property tax levies total 5 mills and together raise $2.5 million a year for the authority, which now serves Youngstown and some of its immediate suburbs.

City council has a similar resolution on its meeting agenda for 5:30 p.m. today, and the WRTA trustees will have a special meeting at 8 a.m. Thursday at the authority’s headquarters on Mahoning Avenue to concur in placing the sales tax on the ballot.

The county elections board deadline for March 4 ballot issues is 4 p.m. Thursday. The 0.25 percent tax is the smallest sales tax the commissioners could put on the ballot, Ferraro added.

Council’s resolution to transform the WRTA into a countywide entity would expand the authority’s board from five members — four appointed by Youngstown’s mayor and one appointed by council — to seven members, with four appointed by the county commissioners and three by Youngstown’s mayor.

Two of the three county commissioner’s seats, those of Traficanti and McNally, are up for election in 2008. McNally, who lives in Youngstown, said he is definitely running for re-election.

He added he is “not worried about a political liability” that might stem from the proposed countywide levy if he ends up endorsing it and it fails in March.

Due to state and federal funding cuts, the WRTA has been forced this year to reduce service by about 50 percent, eliminating evening, Warren and Saturday service and thinning out schedules on its remaining routes. The property tax levies in Youngstown and the fare box provide the only local revenues for WRTA, Ferraro said.

The authority will conduct public hearings on the countywide tax and service proposal between now and March 4 in every city, village and township of the county, Ferraro said.

If the sales tax passes, collections would start 90 days later and the new revenues would flow to the transit authority 90 days after collections begin, so the WRTA projects countywide bus service would begin in fall 2008, Ferraro said.

If the new tax passes, service in the more rural areas of the county will be provided by smaller buses and by appointment for pickup, Ferraro said. The authority also would restore evening and Saturday bus service, he added.

milliken@vindy.com