Trumbull leaders, residents grapple with possible sales tax increase

WARREN

Trumbull County commissioners showed a map at a public hearing Wednesday revealing the county to be among only 22 of the state's 88 with a sales tax rate of 6.75 percent or lower.

County Auditor Adrian Biviano gave a presentation backed by many charts, showing the drop in the county’s rainy-day fund from $11.5 million in 2008 to $1.8 million at the end of 2014 and the reasons why it has dropped.

But some of the 50 or so people attending the hearing regarding the commissioners’ plan to increase the sales tax rate by a quarter of a percent said it’s too early to give up trying to “make due.”

Ron Knight, a longtime educator and Republican eight-year member of the county elections board, gave the commissioners his written and oral presentation that asked for county officials to ask for a state performance audit to look further at ways to cut costs before raising the sales tax.

“A top-to-bottom review of of spending should be done by experienced, independent examiners,” he said. “I don’t necessarily think the way to deal with a budget shortfall is to raise sales taxes.”

Read what others thought in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.