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Officials concerned library levy could cause confusion
and ED RUNYAN
YOUNGSTOWN
Despite what it will say on the ballot, the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County is not seeking a tax increase.
In fact, if its levy request on November’s ballot is approved, it will result in a tax cut of about 11 percent, said Janet Loew, library spokesperson, communications and public relations director. The confusion is due to state law about how the levy must be presented.
The library previously had two levies and is choosing to let one of them for 1 mill expire, she said. The library now seeks renewal of its 1.8-mill levy with a 0.6-mill addition to it. The result is an overall tax decrease for the library of 0.4 mill.
“We couldn’t do anything about the language,” Loew said, which states only that the 0.6 mill is an addition — without mentioning the overall cut.
The library is concerned that people will mistakenly consider the levy to be a tax increase, she said.
“We did it this way because it would be better for the taxpayer, allowing them to keep the rollback the state gives them,” Loew said. The total levy would raise $9,352,893 yearly for the library and is for five years. The library has posted information explaining the levy at http://www.libraryvisit.org/levy.aspx.
Another countywide initiative includes Mahoning County’s seeking to renew a 0.5 percent sales tax, and also approval of a 0.25 percent additional sales tax that would go toward funding the county’s criminal justice system. That would go toward paying for the county prosecutors, sheriff’s office, 911 and coroner, said David Ditzler, chairman of the commissioners.
“This is what keeps the jail running,” he said. “Without this, the sheriff’s office wouldn’t be able to keep up the services it currently provides.”
The commissioners also will be able to audit this money and “know where every cent is spent,” Ditzler said. It will eliminate issues of moving money from the general fund to another fund to cover issues.
The levy would raise $9,352,893 annually. The levy is for five years.
The final countywide ballot issue is for Mahoning County Children Services. The organization is attempting to replace two levies with one that would produce nearly $2.8 million in additional funding.
The levy is for the same millage as the former levy; it just resets the property-tax amounts to present values, said Randall Muth, director of children services.
“The issue is that once a levy is passed, its value remains frozen in time while costs continue to rise,” he said.
This levy will allow children services to make investments that are better for children and allow cost savings over time, Muth said. Without it, children services will be $22 million in the red in 10 years.
“Even in these tough economic times we think our children are worth investing in,” he said. “We want every child to have a level of care that most of us take for granted.”
TRUMBULL COUNTY
In Trumbull County, meanwhile, the Newton Falls citizens referendum, centered on the change village council made in June to income-tax collections, was submitted to the Trumbull County Board of Elections, as promised.
But elections board staff said more legal analysis will be required before Tuesday’s 2 p.m. board of elections meeting to determine whether the referendum will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Judge Ronald Rice of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court ruled Friday that Kathleen King, village clerk, had to submit the referendum to the board of elections.
But the board of elections’ legal counsel, the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office, is being asked to look at the matter to determine whether there is any reason not to certify the referendum, said Jodi Fiorenzo-Dibble, deputy director of the elections board.
The referendum asks whether voters support the village council’s decision to repeal an income-tax credit given to Newton Falls residents who pay income tax to another community because of their employment.
Meanwhile, a second Newton Falls referendum that the elections board did not know about before it showed up at the offices Friday also will be scrutinized before Tuesday’s meeting to determine whether it should be placed on the ballot.
One question will be whether the circulators of that petition followed proper procedures, elections officials said.
That referendum is on an ordinance village council approved establishing a stormwater utility to be responsible for the operations, construction, maintenance and repair of stormwater facilities, stormwater planning and lake and river quality management.
As for the controversial selection of Mauro Cantalamessa by the Trumbull County Democratic Party Central Committee, Kelly Pallante, Trumbull County Board of Elections director, said the elections board’s role is only “administrative,” so there is no reason to believe the elections board will refuse to certify Cantalamessa’s candidacy.
Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, has declared that the secret ballot used to select Cantalamessa was improper.
He has demanded that Dan Polivka, the county’s Democratic chairman, conduct a new vote. Polivka has refused.