Saturday, July 28, 2012
Staff report
Warren
Dan Dickten’s refusal of a $7,500 bonus may lead Trumbull County commissioners to reopen discussion on the county bed tax.
Commissioner Paul Heltzel said he and the other commissioners learned Friday of Dickten’s decision not to accept the bonus that recently was approved by the Western Reserve Port Authority.
Dickten, the aviation director for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, didn’t return calls to comment Friday afternoon.
When Dickten’s bonus was announced, the commissioners acted by lowering the county bed tax from 5 percent to 4 percent. The bed tax helps finance the port authority.
Heltzel said previously that the commissioners did so because in the current economic environment, no person paid through government funds should receive a 10 percent bonus.
Heltzel said Friday that he was surprised to hear of Dickten’s decision.
“We thought maybe the [port authority] board would do something,” Heltzel said. “The fact that [Dickten] stepped up, in some ways, is even better.”
Heltzel said the commissioners haven’t had a chance to re-examine the bed-tax percentage, but it’s a conversation he said they may have.
“I’d say, under the circumstances, it looks favorable that we would open it back up.”