43
Valley's momentum depends on sales-tax renewal, Congressman says
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Don’t jeopardize the economic-development momentum that recently has been building in the Mahoning Valley by depriving Mahoning County’s government of the money it needs to provide basic services, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, implored the voters.
“What I fear is that as we are taking these steps forward, we end up taking three steps back,” Ryan told an audience of about 60 people Tuesday at the Covelli Centre.
The occasion was a forum on the county’s half-percent sales tax, which will be before the voters May 4 as a five-year renewal designated as Issue 3.
“We can’t build our community; we can’t move forward unless we have the local county governments running efficiently and effectively,” the congressman said.
“No one wants to move to a community or grow a business in a community that can’t basically afford some of these essential services,” Ryan said, referring to the county jail and juvenile- justice center and other services, which are funded by the sales tax.
“We’ve had some real successes here in the last few months, things that we really haven’t seen for 30 years,” Ryan said, referring to General Motors’ decision to build the Cruze at Lordstown and to V&M Star’s forthcoming $650 million investment in a new pipe mill here.
“We have positioned this community where we are now getting national and international press and acclaim,” Ryan observed. “Our community is well-positioned to lead the national economy again,” he told the friendly audience that included many county officials and county government workers.
“I’d rather get waterboarded than campaign for a tax,” he said, but he added that he’s campaigning for this renewal because it’s essential to the community’s well-being.
“We can’t lose the momentum by not being able to do the basic blocking and tackling that county government does,” he said.
The economic troubles the Valley is facing stem from national and global economic problems and are not the fault of local officials, the congressman said.
“It’s not about keeping public employees employed. It’s about giving the public employees the opportunity to do their jobs and serve the people who pay their salaries,” county Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said of the sales tax. “Without the ability to pay these people, we’re not going to have the services.
“Criminal justice is labor-intensive,” Gains said, adding that inmates can’t be jailed without deputies to feed and guard them, and court can’t be conducted without prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges.
“We need this as a quality-of-life community issue,” said Anthony T. Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners. “There is no way Mahoning County can operate with less than one penny” of sales tax, he said.
The voters continuously renewed the county’s other half-percent sales tax in May 2007. Each half percent generates about $13 million a year for the county’s general fund, which is its main operating fund.