Mahoning commissioners discuss reasons for sales tax failure

YOUNGSTOWN — The economic recession is a major factor in the failure of the Mahoning County’s half-percent sales tax this month, said Anthony T. Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners.

“We have double-digit unemployment — the highest it’s been since 1983,” Traficanti said during at today's commissioners’ meeting. “The unemployment rate continues to escalate. ...People here are hurting.”

Traficanti said most of the people he has spoken to since the failure of the tax, which was on the ballot this fall as a continuous measure, are opposed to a continuous tax without an expiration date.

Some voters are “envious’’ of county employee benefits, Traficanti said. “We have a Cadillac health-care benefit plan,” for county employees, he acknowledged. He called for court employees to pay 10 percent of their current health-care premiums, not the current 5 percent.

For the complete story, see Friday's Vindicator and Vindy.com