Mahoning sales tax can be labeled ‘renewal’

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Secretary of State is permitting Mahoning County to use the word “renewal” on its 0.5-percent, five-year sales tax on the May 4 ballot.

Michael Rankin, assistant secretary of state, wrote in a letter to Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains that the county could use the word “this one last time.”

Secretary of state officials previously had refused to allow Mahoning County to use “renewal.”

Gains said he was “very pleased” with the decision.

“I believe it is crucial to helping to get the tax passed,” Gains said of “renewal.”

The word will be included in the title of the tax request and be in parenthesis. It won’t be used in the body of the ballot language.

For the complete story, read Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com