More tax issues in Mahoning County on the November ballot than the last 2 general elections combined

By David Skolnick | July 31, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

There will be more tax issues in Mahoning County on the Nov. 3 ballot than the last two general elections combined.

The November ballot has 27 tax issues as of Thursday. The filing deadline is Wednesday.

Of the 27, two are county tax renewals and a Mill Creek MetroParks renewal/increase tax issue that will be on every ballot in the county.

Voters in Austintown will see a full ballot. The three countywide measures will be joined by five other tax proposals: two school renewals and three renewal/increase township levies.

Boardman voters will have four renewals to consider: two from the township and two from the school district.

In comparison to the 27 issues so far on the ballot, there were 12 tax issues on the November 2014 general election ballot and 11 on the November 2013 ballot.

This is the most tax issues on a general-election ballot since there were 27 in 2012.

Based on the past three elections, there is little to worry about for most of the 27 tax issues to be considered in November. There are 20 renewals.

“Most people vote to support renewals,” said Joyce Kale-Pesta, county board of elections director. “It’s the new ones that struggle, particularly the school ones.”

During the general elections of the last three years, the only renewal to fail was a Jackson-Milton school issue in 2012.

But of the 15 new tax proposals in the past three general elections, just five were approved.

There are only two additional tax requests so far for November. Both are for streets, roads and bridges with one in Berlin and the other in the village of Poland.

There’s also a 4-mill, 34-year additional bond issue for $28,265,910 with a 0.5-mill levy to raise $188,649 annually for Poland schools.

There are four renewals with increases: three in Austintown Township and one for Mill Creek MetroParks

“Some of the issues aren’t expiring until next year, so they’re put on now to get a head start,” Kale-Pesta said. “If they don’t pass, they’ve got two other chances” to be approved in 2016.

The total amount of money being requested in this election, not including the Poland bond issue, is $46.2 million.