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Mahoning Officials OK placing justice tax on ballot
BOARDMAN
The second hearing on a five-year renewal for Mahoning County’s justice sales tax saw little public comment.
Commissioners approved placing the measure on the May 7 ballot during a Thursday meeting at Boardman Township Government Center.
The tax, 75 cents on every $100 spent in the county, has generated more than $25 million annually. That makes up 86 percent of the county criminal justice system budget, funding the sheriff’s, prosecutor’s and coroner’s offices, as well as dispatching services.
Heads of those departments, Sheriff Jerry Greene, Prosecutor Paul Gains and Coroner Dr. David Kennedy, detailed how they spend those dollars on services and emphasized the tax’s necessity.
“We deputies have dealt with budget cuts and layoffs over the years. We’ve had many ups and downs. The way this current justice tax is set up, it puts us in an ‘all or nothing’ situation,” Greene said. “It’s our entire budget. It’s everything.”
Jerry Greene on Tax Levy
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Greene highlighted one of many “proactive” policing efforts begun in Mahoning County since the dedicated justice tax was approved in 2015: the county’s human-trafficking task force, which has resulted in nearly 100 arrests since its formation three years ago. The office also targeted pedophiles online through human-trafficking and child-pornography cases and rescued at least 20 trafficked juveniles, he said.
Gains said his office has cleared out more criminal cases than taken in each of the last three years. Since the state has begun directing low-level felony offenders from state prisons to county jails, the 0.75-percent tax “alleviated the burden tremendously,” he said.
“I can keep lawyers here. … Our clearance rate is showing that. There’s nothing better than a lawyer having a historical perspective on what happened in the past,” Gains said. “You’ve got honest officials up here. We’re not abusing these monies and we’re asking you to continue to support that tax and assist us in supporting the jobs we’re trying to do.”
Kennedy, coroner since 1994, said the dedicated income from the sales tax has made it easier to plan. He said his office receives about 500 cases per year. Half of those involve unnatural deaths, now bolstered by the opioid epidemic.
The township hearing room was full Thursday, but almost entirely by elected officials and other county workers, including about a dozen road crewman from the county engineer’s office, which is also requesting a new $5 infrastructure tax on license plate purchases. The crewmen represented the “face” of the department, Engineer Pat Ginnetti said.
Leo Connelly Jr., a local veterans advocate who supports the justice tax renewal, entered the only public comment from a non-county official or relative of an official.
“This is tough times. I personally am on a fixed income, but when you stop and think about the great job Sheriff Greene is doing … those scumbags he’s taking off the street – would you say that’s worth the money?” he asked, pointing the question towards parents in the audience and hearing affirmative murmurs.
“If all it takes for us is to give them a few pennies to do their job – let’s give it to them. … We need this to let them continue to do their jobs.”
Newly elected state Rep. Don Manning of New Middletown, R-59th, also threw his support behind the measure Thursday, citing his history of opposition to wasteful spending.
“I don’t see this as wasteful or over-taxation. This is something that’s needed,” he said.
Commissioner David Ditzler said it’s important to remember the tax is earmarked specifically for criminal justice.
“People want to know where their money is going – they want to vote on a police levy, a fire levy. … They want to know it’s mandated for that purpose,” he said. “We get taxes shoved down our throat by the federal and the state governments that we don’t get an opportunity to vote on. The tax that costs us the least and does the most for us we have to bring to you and get your approval.”
The county’s sales tax is currently 7.25 percent, which includes 5.75 percent to the state, .50 percent to the county’s general fund and .25 percent to the Western Reserve Transit Authority.
Voters narrowly approved a five-year renewal and 0.25 percent increase of the justice tax by only 1,322 votes in the 2014 general election, according to the county board of elections.