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Mahoning Democrats to consider endorsing the county sales tax Tuesday
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County Democratic Party’s executive committee will meet Tuesday to consider endorsing the county’s proposed 0.75-percent sales tax and to oppose a citizen-initiative charter amendment to ban fracking in Youngstown.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at party headquarters at 401 Hillman Way in Boardman.
Chairman David Betras said the party’s constitution permits him to have the executive committee meet in place of the central committee to vote on ballot issues.
There are about 60 to 70 executive-committee members and about 260 central committee members.
“It’s my discretion,” Betras said. “It’s too much money to rent a hall for the whole central committee to meet” for about 45 minutes.
The 0.75-percent, 5-year county sales tax is the renewal of a 0.5-percent tax with a 0.25-percent additional tax.
It would generate about $24 million annually for the county. The money from the tax would be restricted to the sheriff’s, prosecutor’s and coroner’s offices and the 911 emergency dispatching center.
A 0.5-percent permanent county sales tax lost by 1.6 percentage points in the May election.
The Youngstown anti-fracking proposal has been defeated by city voters three times since May 2013. The last vote this past May was the closest, with the amendment losing by 8.3 percentage points.
The anti-fracking proposal is bad for the area as it could discourage business development in the city, Betras said.
Also, Betras and other opponents say the proposal is not enforceable as decisions regulating that industry are handled by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.