COLUMBUS TAX INCREASE PASSED; SOUTH WEST LEVY FAILS
Columbus will increase its income-tax rate for the first time in 27 years, according to final, unofficial returns.
The proposed increase was approved with 51.7 percent of the vote. More than 89,000 city residents voted, and the margin of victory was 3,050 votes.
“This was a coalition … coming together at a tough time in our city to say we are one Columbus and we need to keep Columbus great,” said Mayor Michael B. Coleman.
The current rate is 2 percent, which costs $200 per every $10,000 of income. As of Oct. 1, the rate will increase to 2.5 percent. That will add another $50 per every $10,000 of income.
For the city, the higher rate is projected to add an extra $90 million to $100 million yearly into its daily operations. The city has projected a $115 million gap between projected revenues and the cost of current operations.
SOUTHWEST LEVY FAILS
South-Western students will return to school this fall without sports, band and clubs after district voters defeated an operating request today.
District officials said the issue was losing by 687 votes with two precincts left to report. (With 89 of 105 precincts reporting results on the Franklin County Board of Elections Web site, more than 51 percent of voters had voted no.)
The request for a four-year, 8.3-mill property-tax request was the same request that 56 percent of voters rejected in May.
“It’s times like this, it’s difficult to find words,” said campaign co-chairman Mark Mayers. “We have to as a community stay together. We can’t splinter off.”
After the May defeat, the school board cut $8 million from the budget. The school board had hoped to reverse about half the cuts with today’s levy.
The cuts for this fall include the elimination of more than 77 positions, cancellation of all extracurricular activities for middle- and high-school students and closing of two schools.
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