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Request for letters backing sales tax garners 21 so far
By D.A. WILKINSON
wilkinson@vindy.com
LISBON
A campaign to get support for the renewal of Columbiana County’s 1 percent sales tax is off to a good start.
Penny Traina, commissioners board president, said Tuesday that the county has received 21 letters so far.
The campaign started March 12 when the commissioners sent about 240 letters to local leaders asking for their support. Traina said the letters will be read during the commissioners meetings before the May primary.
The tax would bring in about $8 million a year, or about 44 percent of the county’s general fund.
Some of the letters are from officials including Nancy Milliken, the county treasurer, and Anthony Datillio, the county’s clerk of courts.
Other officials who don’t get any of the sales-tax funds include East Palestine Mayor Raymond Hall, who wrote, “Please continue to work on behalf of the citizens of Columbiana County knowing the financial resources will be available with the passage of the 1 percent sales tax.”
East Liverpool Mayor James Swoger and Eldena Gearhart, a Middletown Township trustee, also gave a thumb’s-up to the plan.
Salem Police Chief Robert Floor and Lisbon Police Chief John Higgins also wrote support letters.
Wesley A. Crothers of Lisbon, a Navy retiree, also sent a letter.
The three common pleas court judges, Tom Baronzzi, David Tobin and Ashley Pike, in their letter recalled the commissioners and judges worked together to fund the courts.
County Engineer Bert Dawson, whose office gets no funds from the county, noted the commissioners have tried to reduce spending.
“This has resulted in our county being one of the lowest general-fund cost per population of any county our size in the state.”
Tracy Drake, the chief executive officer of the Columbiana County Port Authority, said the authority also gets no county revenue.
But, he said, “Passage of the renewal will help Columbiana County maintain the basic services that any employer looking to locate or stay depends upon.”