Columbiana commissioners move toward placing tax on ballot

LISBON — Even before Wednesday night’s hearing on the renewal of the county’s 1-percent sales tax, the Columbiana County commissioners were making sure it will go on the ballot.

Penny Traina, the president of the commissioners, said Wednesday that the second of the required public hearings on the tax will be at 10:15 a.m. Feb. 10.

The filing deadline is Feb. 18, she added.

The 1 percent sales tax brings in about $12 million a year, or about 44 percent of the county’s general fund. The county also collects a 0.5 percent sales tax that brings in about $4 million a year.

Voters had passed the 1 percent issue twice before.

Last year, there was almost no comment from the public at the hearings. But a substantial number last November voted against the tax.

In 2005, the ballot language for the 1 percent tax said it was for the continuation of an existing tax.

Last November, the ballot for the same measure said it was an “additional” tax.

Traina said that the commissioners haven’t addressed the language they want to see on the ballot in May.