EUCLID, Ohio — The deadline to gather 1,500 signatures on an initiative petition aiming to lower the city’s local income tax is approaching fast.
Jeffrey Beck is one of several Euclid residents trying to gather signatures.
The petition he’s advocating for would repeal a 1994 City of Euclid ordinance. It currently imposes an annual income tax of 0.85% for the purpose of sharing that money between the city and Euclid Schools.
Of that annual income tax, 0.38% would go into the city’s general fund and 0.47% would go to Euclid Schools.
“The way we fund schools is unconstitutional,” said Beck.
In the 1997 DeRolph v. State of Ohio decision, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the state’s school funding system was unconstitutional as there was an over-reliance on property taxes.
Beck said Euclid’s shared local income tax should fall under that same decision.
Additionally, the Euclid City School District filed a lawsuit earlier this year, claiming the city is keeping more of the shared income tax than originally agreed to.
“It was an experimental tax as a different way to fund schools,” said Beck. “The city is in good shape. The schools are in good shape.”
While the City of Euclid Mayor Kirsten Gail told News 5 that the city is in a financially great position, eliminating 0.85% of the local income tax would cut $5.5 million from the city’s general fund.
Mayor Gail said Euclid is on track to collect $35 million in local income taxes this year.
“Our income tax is about two thirds of our general fund budget, and our general fund budget supports our general city services,” stated Mayor Gail.
The initiative petition must collect 1,500 signatures by July 22 in order to appear on the November ballot.
If it does and passes, Mayor Gail said city departments like police, fire, tax, housing, and finance may likely get a substantial cut to the funds they are annually given. The other option would be to potentially impose a levy as a means of replacing those lost funds, according to Mayor Gail.
“Hopefully it won’t pass, and we won’t have to make those kinds of decisions, but there’s no question we would have to bring something back to make up for the revenue,” said Mayor Gail. “For a year or two, maybe we’d be okay. But long term, no, we would definitely have to look at replacing that revenue.”
“I have no concerns over losing any type of city services,” said Beck. “Those are buzzwords that they use. This is what they do. This is a chance to give the residents back some of their hard [earned] money. We’ve got inflation going on. High gas prices. High prices at the grocery store. This needs to happen to bring us to par with the rest of [Cuyahoga] County.”
If a levy is imposed to make up for this potential local income tax decrease, Beck said he and several other Euclid residents would fight it.
“The more money you give a politician, the more they’re going to spend and when they spend it, they’re going to want more,” said Beck. “High taxes don’t lead to prosperity. High taxes lead to more poverty and that’s what we see in Euclid.”
Signing an initiative petition does not lock in a vote. It would still need to be placed on a ballot for a final decision.
If you’re interested in signing the petition, you can email RECET2011@gmail.com.
