Published: Friday, January 12, 2007
Deputies' union chief urges officials to keep focus on renewing sales tax
Sales tax passage is critical to keep prisoners jailed, the deputies' union chief says.
YOUNGSTOWN — The president of the union representing Mahoning County deputy sheriffs has told the county commissioners they must stay focused on renewing the half-percent county sales tax that will be on the ballot in May.
He added they should avoid any distractions, such as the debate about whether the county should switch to a charter form of government.
"The tax is absolutely necessary. ... We live or die by that sales tax," said Glenn Kountz, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 141. The tax is needed to keep the county jail conditions satisfactory and to avoid further releases of prisoners, he said.
To control the inmate population, prisoners, other than those charged with violent felonies, may be released now under a mechanism devised by the county common pleas judges.
Kountz added that many deputies, including himself, have been laid off several times when one of the county's two on-again, off-again sales taxes has failed at the ballot box. "Focus your efforts on the sales tax," he urged the commissioners.
What tax is worth
Each of the two sales taxes generates about $14 million annually for the county's general fund, for a total of $28 million a year, which is more than 57 percent of the county's general fund. For 2007, the general fund, the county's main operating fund, totals $49.6 million. Judicial and law enforcement spending consume more than 69 percent of the general fund.
"Now is not the time to even cloud the issue. I mean, we need this sales tax to pass," Kountz said. He said of charter government, "It's irresponsible to even bring it up at this time." The voters may defeat the tax with the idea "that maybe you should just change the way government's run," he warned.
John Paulette of Austintown, a frequent speaker at county commissioners' meetings, also urged the commissioners to focus on the sales tax renewal campaign and avoid confusing the public. "This is not the time or the place," to raise the issue of charter government, he told the commissioners.
Charter study proposal
Kountz and Paulette made their comments Thursday after Commissioner John McNally on Monday proposed a November ballot issue that would establish a county charter commission to study whether the county commissioner form of government should continue.
The commission would study whether to replace the county commissioners with a county executive and an elected county council and whether certain officeholders, who are now elected, should be replaced with appointed functionaries.
The other commissioners, Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt, said they don't favor such a ballot issue at this time.
After hearing comments from Kountz and Paulette, McNally said after the meeting: "It's irresponsible not to bring up to the voters' attention the way that we could possibly change our government, perhaps for the better, to make us more efficient," and more accountable to the voters.
"Certainly, letting the voters of Mahoning County make those decisions in the future is the most responsible thing we can do. The voters of Mahoning County are very educated and can make these decisions for themselves," he added.
McNally said Monday a county executive and council system, like that of Summit County, could offer advantages similar to those of Youngstown's mayor and city council system, where the mayor has strong and effective executive powers. He added, however, that establishing a charter form of government would be a long-range effort, likely taking three to four years.
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