Speakers favor sales-tax renewal

By Peter H. Milliken

The consequences of a sales- tax failure in May will be severe, speakers warn.

CANFIELD — The sentiment among speakers at the Mahoning County Commissioners first hearing on the half-percent sales-tax renewal was overwhelmingly in favor of renewing the tax in May, but many of the speakers were officeholders or county workers.

More than 60 people braved a snowy evening to attend the Monday evening hearing, which lasted more than 90 minutes at the Mill Creek MetroParks Farm.

The large turnout was in sharp contrast to the sparse attendance at the first hearing the commissioners had before their unsuccessful attempt to renew the tax in November.

Only one speaker Monday night was opposed to the renewal. “People just can’t afford it,” said Stephen A. McVicker of Youngstown, who said he is unemployed.

“It’s a consumption tax” he said, noting that those who lack disposable income can’t afford to make major purchases. He also said the sales tax is undesirable because it increases the cost of doing business in the county.

As an alternative, McVicker suggested an increase of less than 1-mill in the real-estate tax.

John P. Brown III of Boardman, however, said the sales tax is a desirable way to raise funds for county government because the burden of paying it is spread across people of many surrounding counties who shop in major shopping centers here, such as Southern Park Mall in Boardman.

“We, as citizens, have a responsibility to give these gentlemen the tools they need” to operate county government, Brown said. “Thirteen million is a lot to lose,” he said, referring to the annual revenue the county would lose if the tax fails.

The county commissioners prepared for the hearing draft resolutions, one calling for a five-year renewal, another for a 10-year renewal and another for a continuous renewal, with a vote to place the tax on the May ballot tentatively set for a Jan. 14 commissioners’ meeting.

Another hearing on the sales tax will be at 6:30 p.m. next Monday at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown.

The voters rejected a continuous renewal last November, and the May primary will be the last opportunity to renew the tax without any interruption in collections.

The voters renewed the county’s other half-percent sales tax on a continuous basis in May 2007. Each tax generates about $13 million annually for the county’s general fund, which is its main operating fund, supporting the sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices, courts, elections board and many other county functions.

“It is up to each of us to contribute a half-penny to keep our community strong and safe,” said Annemarie DeAscentis, grants fiscal manager in the commissioners’ office.

DeAscentis said concessions need to be shared “across the board” in county government.

Employees in some departments, including the clerk of courts, commissioners and sheriff’s offices, facilities department and child support enforcement agency have taken concessions in the form of unpaid floating holidays, but these concessions have not be applied evenly across all county departments.

Maj. James Lewandowski, who has been with the sheriff’s department for 26 years, said he had “endured this roller-coaster ride of the on and off again sales tax” between 1997 and 2005, including mass layoffs of sheriff’s deputies and closing of parts of the county jail.

If the sales tax fails in May, “We will be going through the same insanity again,” Lewandowski warned. He urged the commissioners to put the tax on the ballot as a continuous measure “so we can ensure continuous public safety.”

A history of Mahoning County’s on-again, off-again sales tax votes and their consequences:

November 1997: The county’s half- percent sales tax, which has been on the books since 1981, is defeated after a repeal campaign by the Accountability Tax Force, which described itself as a local government watchdog group.

October 1999: The funding crunch caused by the loss of sales tax revenue causes prisoners to be released, reducing the county jail to 240 inmates as the sheriff’s department lays off 91 deputies. The new $36 million jail, designed to hold 432 inmates, had opened in March 1996, nearly tripling the county’s inmate-holding capacity.

November 1999: The sales tax, then worth $12 million a year in revenue, passes, allowing the reinstatement of the laid-off deputies, after the county has lost almost $25 million in sales tax revenue over two years.

November 2004: Half-percent sales tax is defeated at the polls.

February 2005: After that defeat, commissioners appropriate $7.6 million for the sheriff’s department for the year, 39 percent below its $12.4 million budget for 2004.

May 2005: Voters reinstate the half- percent sales tax, but because collections won’t be received until Jan. 1, 2006, the commissioners borrow $7.34 million to keep deputies in the jail through the end of the year.

February 2007: To settle an inmate lawsuit concerning jail crowding, Youngstown and county officials reach an agreement giving the city up to 221 jail beds and allowing for the return of up to 150 revenue-generating federal prisoners, full reopening of the main jail and reopening of the 96-bed misdemeanor jail. The jail had last housed federal inmates in late 2004 and the misdemeanor jail had been forced to close due to lack of funding in March 2005.

May 2007: Voters renew one of the county’s two half-percent sales taxes on a continuous basis.

November 2009: Voters reject continuous renewal of the other half-percent sales tax, and commissioners say they’ll return it to the ballot in May 2010, which will be the last chance to ensure uninterrupted collection of the tax.

December 2009: County Administrator George J. Tablack announces that the recession has reduced the county’s collections from each sales tax from $14 million in 2008 to $13 million in 2009.

Source: Vindicator files