In Fairlawn, petitioners placed five questions on the general election ballot.
In Macedonia, voters are being asked to increase the city’s income tax, twice.
In Munroe Falls, city officials are seeking three different tax increases.
They are among more than a dozen communities in Summit County facing important local decisions on Nov. 8.
Here are the highlights:
Fairlawn
Joe Simonetti, Ward 5’s freshman councilman, couldn’t convince the council last spring to pass legislation limiting terms for mayoral and council seats and providing for the election of the law director, a post that is currently appointed by the mayor.
So he and supporters collected more than 250 signatures to put the question before voters in this city of 7,400 people.
Opponents have been very critical in their opposition, but Simonetti said he doesn’t know why it’s such a controversial idea since many elected offices at the federal, state and local level have term limits.
“I think it’s the only way to make sure government does not become stagnant,” he said.
The ballot issue would limit the mayor and council to three four-year terms, and is not retroactive. Simonetti said that means even the current mayor and council members could get an additional 12 years in office if voters give it to them.
As to electing the law director, Simonetti cited two reasons. Unlike other department heads, Simonetti said he sees the law director as reporting directly to the people of Fairlawn. Also, making it an elected position would assure the law director lives in the city, since currently there is no residency requirement, nor support for mandating one.
“I’m a very common-sense person. It’s my first year in politics ... but the thing I do know is you need to represent the people who voted for you, and if they want something on the ballot, if they want ordinances introduced, it’s my job as councilman to do it,” he said.
On all three issues, other council members have argued that such topics should be left to the city’s Charter Review Commission, which meets every three years.
Also on the Nov. 8 ballot in Fairlawn, a local homeowners association wants voters to tighten up regulations for landlords and to mandate rental property inspections.
A couple of related issues were approved on last November’s ballot, but attorney Harry Tipping, spokesman for the Fairlawn Neighborhood Homeowners Association, said the language was watered down, allowing landlords to certify conditions without verification and only triggering inspections if a tenant makes a formal complaint.
The association attempted to put its own language on the ballot last year, allowing voters to decide between its and the city’s language. But the association didn’t meet election board deadlines last year, so it’s trying again this year.
Tipping said his organization — some 250 members strong — heard “an awful lot of complaints from tenants complaining about conditions in apartments and failure to maintain, and that’s how this whole thing started.”
By mandating inspections, it takes the target off the backs of tenants who fear reprisals for complaining, he said.
Tipping said that by making landlords more accountable, it could “bring Fairlawn neighborhoods back and bring property values up.”
Macedonia
Three months after Macedonia voters overwhelmingly said no to a 0.5 percent income tax increase, the city is back on the ballot with a new strategy and hopes to convince residents that the majority of new revenue would come from nonresidents.
This time, officials have broken their 0.5 percent request into two issues:
• An existing quarter-percent income tax — passed 20 years ago to build the city’s recreation center — would continue another 20 years if approved by voters. It would generate about $1 million a year, with some of the money used to renovate the rec center and add new features, including a splash water feature for kids, a new gymnasium and meeting rooms. The rest of the money would be used to maintain the city’s 350 acres of parkland.
Since it costs the city about $400,000 to operate the rec center, Mayor Joe Migliorini said allowing that tax to expire next June would mean cutting services at the facility, which serves this city of 11,500 people.
• A new 10-year, quarter-percent income tax would raise $1 million a year to pay for road repairs and storm water projects. Migliorini said currently there is no money budgeted to care for streets, and some $20 million worth of residential road repair needs have been identified.
“We have never earmarked one dollar in this city for road improvements. We always robbed Peter to pay Paul,” he said.
If both requests are approved, the city’s income tax would go from 2 percent to 2.25 percent. If neither are approved, the tax rate would fall to 1.75 percent when the rec center’s old quarter-percent tax expires next June.
Migliorini said the city will give full credit on the tax to any residents who work in another community that collects at least 2.25 percent. The workers affected by the tax would be those who both live and work in Macedonia, or who live in Macedonia and work in a community that collects less than 2.25 percent.
“Only 20 percent of the increase is coming from residents,” Migliorini said.
Not all city officials are united behind the request. Councilwoman Sylvia Hanneken has been campaigning against both issues, and council Vice President David Engle has also voiced opposition.
“I am convinced that Macedonia can provide quality services” without an increase in the current 2 percent rate, Hanneken said.
She said median income tax revenue was $1.5 million higher from 2013-2016 than from 2009-2010. Additionally, $225,000 more revenue is being made available for storm water control through fees collected by Northeast Regional Sewer District.
Meanwhile, some major expenses are coming off the budget, including a $1 million payoff of City Hall and rec center construction debt the end of this year, Hanneken said. The city’s share of some recent road projects also will be paid off.
While defeat of both issues will drop the city’s rate below 2 percent, Hanneken agreed that 2 percent is necessary and that the council can discuss how to get that lost quarter-percent back “in a calmer atmosphere.”
Notably, Migliorini and Hanneken ran against each other for the mayor’s seat last year in a contentious race, with Migliorini winning 55 percent of the vote and taking office in January.
Munroe Falls
The city, home to 5,000 residents, is asking voters for three separate tax increases.
One would hike the income tax from 2 to 2.25 percent to raise money for the general fund. Another is a new five-year 2.8 mill levy for the police department. A third would raise 2 mills a year for the next 10 years to pay for street projects.
Mayor James Armstrong said the city is currently facing an operational deficit of $300,000, and that last year they had to overcome a $480,000 deficit.
“We’re not the federal government. We can’t print our money. We have to make ends meet. There was a reserve account, but you can’t keep taking from that,” he said.
Many residents work in Akron and other communities that already pay 2.25 percent, he said, and those residents would receive full credit. That means the affected include those who live and work in Munroe Falls, or who live in the city while working in a community with a tax rate of less than 2.25 percent.
Meanwhile, the 2.8 mill police levy on the ballot would raise about $300,000 a year, allowing the hiring of up to three more full-time officers. Currently, there are six full-time positions, but only two available to patrol the streets.
The police levy would cost the owner of a $145,000 home an extra $142 per year.
Armstrong said it’s hard to focus on community policing with a largely part-time staff.
The 2 mill street levy would raise another $214,000 a year for the city’s repaving program and some “serious” storm water problems, the mayor said. The capital levy would cost the owner of a $145,000 home an additional $102 per year.
Because the city can’t allocate money for roads, it is often ineligible to seek matching grants from state and federal sources, he said.
While three new tax issues may seem ambitious, Armstrong said the city has lost $630,000 in annual revenue since 2010, mostly due to the defeat of a levy renewal and loss of state support.
“I worry about it every night,” he said. “I came into office, and we were already running a deficit and running a skeleton crew with a combination of problems ... I’m not trying to build an arena or anything. We are just trying to continue to provide the services people require.”
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.