Mahoning commissioners urging voters to approve 'justice tax'

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County officials are campaigning to convince voters that their security and quality of life depend on passage on Nov. 4 of a 0.75-percent sales tax devoted entirely to public safety.

The five-year measure would renew an existing 0.5 percent sales tax and add an extra 0.25 percent.

The combined measure known as Issue 1 on the ballot would raise about $24 million annually.

The entire tax would be dedicated to the county sheriff’s department, which operates the county jail and patrols roads, the prosecutor’s and coroner’s offices and the 911 emergency dispatching center.

“We’ve named it a justice tax. It all goes to the justice system,” said Mahoning County Commissioner Chairman David Ditzler.

The voters made a separate 0.5 percent sales tax permanent in May 2007.

Besides the two 0.5-percent sales taxes that go to county government, yet another 0.25 percent goes to the Western Reserve Transit Authority for public bus transportation.

Those three taxes are superimposed on the state’s 5.75 percent, giving Mahoning County a current total sales tax of 7 percent.

Read more about the measure in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.