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The Case for Renewing ¾ Percent
By George Sarantou
Toledo City Councilman
Chairman of HR, IT & Finance
In 1983 Toledo voters passed the first ¾ percent income tax.
Back then the City of Toledo employed 2963 people. The
unemployment rate was 10.6 percent. The population was
354,635 and the city was comprised of 84 square miles. The ¾
percent brought in $16,500,000 and the total 2 ¼ percent
paid for police, fire, refuse and most other general fund
departments.
Fast forward to 2012, the City of Toledo employs 167 fewer
employees than they did in 1983. The unemployment rate is
8.7 percent for 2012. The population is 287,208 and the city
is still comprised of 84 square miles. The ¾ percent brings
in $51,500,000 and does not quite pay for the fire
department which has a budget of $60.2 million. The police
budget for 2012 is $73.4 million.
Non-employed seniors did not pay the ¾ percent tax then and
still do not today. It is not paid on property tax,
pensions, social security, dividends, interest, annuities or
capital gains. The ¾ percent is paid on earned income only.
This means over 55 percent of Toledo does not pay income
tax.
The 2 ¼ percent income tax rate has not increased since
1983. Most other levies have sought increases; schools,
library and the zoo have all increased their millage
requests over the years and Toledo has remained constant.
The City Council, along with the administration, has made
public safety a priority. Therefore, though there have been
cutbacks in general fund jobs due to the loss of solid waste
and retirements, upcoming classes are being formed to make
sure public safety can keep in step and properly protect the
citizens.
Currently we have a police class that will graduate 40
officers this May. A fire class of 30 will begin this
December. Additionally, another police class of 40 will
begin this September. These classes will help us to increase
our vital safety forces. However we need additional police
and fire classes in 2013 due to many upcoming retirements.
In the general fund only, employees in the city of Toledo
are now 1596, in 2002 it was 2126, and this is a reduction
of 530 employees. Public safety comprises 1,351 general fund
employees or 85 percent of the general fund employees. That
means the other 25 departments including human resources,
building inspection, finance, council, economic development,
parks and taxation operates on 15 percent of the general
fund budget. In all 25 departments there are only 245
employees; this for a population of 287,208.
On March 6, voters of Toledo will decide whether their mayor
and council have been effective stewards of the treasury
during the greatest recession since the depression. We have
not raised the income tax rate and we have reduced our
employees significantly. Today, Toledo has 9.1 employees
per 1000 people compared to Akron, (10.4) Columbus Dayton
(14.1) (10.6) Cincinnati (17.4) Cleveland (21.8). Our bond
ratings have held steady and Moody’s and Standard and Poors
have upgraded Toledo from a negative outlook to stable.
These are historically very challenging economic times but
Toledo is much stronger today and our economic future is
improving. Jeep, Power Train, Hollywood Casino and The
University of Toledo and many other businesses are leading
our growth. With your support of the renewal of the ¾
percent we can continue to make Toledo a great place to
live, work and raise a family.
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