Defeat of sales tax renewal in Mahoning County is revealing

One down, two to go. THAT’S the number of chances Mahoning County commissioners have left for renewing a 0.5-percent sales tax that expires in September 2015. The issue can be placed before the voters in November and then in May 2015. If it is ultimately defeated, county government will all but grind to a halt.

That’s why we advise commissioners Anthony Traficanti, Carol Rimedio-Righetti and David Ditzler to proceed with caution as they analyze the results from last Tuesday’s primary election. They may be inclined to find solace in the fact that the renewal was defeated by a mere 519 votes — out of a total of 32,965 cast. They shouldn’t.

Instead, Traficanti, Rimedio-Righetti and Ditzler would do well to conclude that they over-reached in asking voters to renew the tax for a continuous period (permanently), rather than for five years.

After the final but unofficial results of the balloting were announced, Ditzler proposed going to the voters in November with a 1 percent tax to be dedicated to the criminal-justice system.

“I look at it as an opportunity, not a defeat,” he said of the 519-vote deficit. “I look at it as an opportunity to come back in November with what I think that people are looking for, which is specific earmarks for the tax to be identified for certain uses.”

We would certainly be interested to find out how the commissioner arrived at that conclusion. From where we sit, it seems that the defeat of the renewal centered on the decision by the commissioners to replace the five-year time frame for the expiration of the tax with a continuous period.

Taxpayers in Mahoning County no longer are willing to give government carte blanche. They want accountability. Having the commissioners make the case every five years for renewing the tax meets the accountability test.

Indeed, the second 0.5-percent sales tax on the books is permanent, which has been a point of contention for a goodly number of county residents.

DON’T RUSH TO JUDGMENT

Though we agree in principle that dedicating a tax to the criminal-justice system makes budgetary sense — it accounts for 70 percent of the $50.2 million general-fund budget for 2014 — we would advise Commissioner Ditzler and his colleagues not to rush to judgment on the proposed 1 percent criminal-justice tax.

If voters were unwilling to give them the benefit of the doubt with regard to doing away with the five-year renewal provision, what makes county officials confident of winning support for an increased amount of tax?

Although we supported making the half-percent permanent — we argued in an editorial last month that financial certainty is important when planning for the long term — Tuesday’s vote has led us to conclude that many taxpayers prefer the status quo.

The complete but unofficial vote totals show 16,742 supported the renewal, while 16,223 opposed it.

Though it is true that Mahoning County government is facing some challenging economic times, taxpayers, especially those in the private sector, have long come to terms with this fact of life: Having a job is all that can be expected these days. Pay raises are a thing of the past, while, for many, pensions have been frozen or are nonexistent.

Residents are well aware that about 80 percent of government’s operating budget goes for wages and benefits, which means they aren’t eager to shell out more in taxes until they’re confident that their dollars aren’t being squandered.

Therein lies the challenge for Mahoning County commissioners. And they have only two more chances to win over voters who said “no” last Tuesday.