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Mahoning tax issue to be titled ‘renewal’
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s only one word, but Mahoning County officials finally persuaded the Ohio Secretary of State’s office to permit the inclusion of “renewal” on the 0.5-percent, five-year sales tax issue on the May 4 ballot.
“I believe it is crucial to helping get the tax passed,” county Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said of “renewal.”
Gains sent several letters to the secretary of state’s office recently to include the word on the May ballot issue.
Gains said he and county commissioners wanted to use the same language on the November 2007 sales-tax ballot calling it a “renewal.”
But the secretary of state’s office refused to budge, insisting the county could use only the term “continuation of an existing tax.”
That was until Thursday.
In a letter to Gains, Michael Rankin, assistant secretary of state, wrote that the county could use the word “this one last time.”
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.
The decision was changed, Rankin wrote, after his office reviewed past sales tax language, including the May 8, 2007, ballot issue in Mahoning County. For that issue the word “continuation” appeared in the body of the ballot language and the word “renewal” appeared in the ballot title.
At the time of that issue, Rankin wrote, his office reviewed only the ballot language for local issues and not the title. The policy was changed in that year’s general election.
“Mahoning County is the only county that submitted the language before the policy change,” Rankin wrote.
“Out of a sense of fairness, the secretary [Jennifer Brunner] believes it equitable to allow Mahoning County to do this one last time to avoid unintended effects of a change in policy.”
“I’m very pleased that they agreed to the use of the word ‘renewal,’” Gains said.
This is the last time Mahoning County will be able to use the word “renewal” in the title of the ballot language, Rankin wrote.
“Renewal” wasn’t used in the November 2009 sales tax issue for a continuous period of time. It was soundly defeated by county voters.
Gains thanked the board of elections, Brunner and Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras for their work on getting “renewal” on the ballot.