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Officials make final push for sales tax
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Several speakers made impassioned pleas for renewal of Mahoning County’s half-percent sales tax at the final regular county commissioners’ meeting before Tuesday’s primary.
On that day, voters will decide the fate of the tax and county government.
“A lot of good things are happening, but we’re also at a crossroads in this community, and this tax is our crossroads,” said Atty. David Betras, county Democratic Party chairman.
The announcement that V&M Star will build a $650 million pipe mill here and that of the addition of a third shift at General Motors in Lordstown are positive recent developments, he said.
The only way to attract businesses and jobs here, however, is to have a viable local government, which the sales tax supports, he said at Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting.
The tax, which is on the ballot for a five-year renewal as Issue 3, is one of two half-percent county sales taxes. The other one was renewed continuously in May 2007.
Each tax generates about $13 million in annual revenue for the county’s general fund, whose budget is $51.7 million this year.
More than two-thirds of the general fund is spent on the county’s justice system, including the jail, prosecutor’s office and courts.
“All that’s going to happen if this tax fails is we are going to fall further and further behind, which puts more and more strain on the government,” Betras said.
Passage of the sales tax is necessary to allow the county to match federal grants, said Ronald A. Marian, executive director of the county mental health board. “Vote yes for Issue 3. Don’t let us fall behind other counties,” he urged.
“There’s no option. It has to pass. We expect everybody to help us out. It’s where we live. It’s a quality-of-life issue,” said Commissioner David N. Ludt, who is seeking re-election in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
In other business, the commissioners awarded a $472,578 contract to Shelly Co. of Twinsburg to repave Mahoning Avenue between Lipkey Road and state Route 45 in Jackson Township this summer. The entire cost is being paid through federal stimulus money.
The commissioners also heard Austintown Township Trustee Lisa Oles report that Holiday Inn Express has expressed interest in building in Austintown a $6.3 million hotel that would create more than 25 full-time jobs.