Martins Ferry Voters Say No to Income Tax Increase
Kailey Carpino Trending
Martins Ferry residents voted overwhelmingly against increasing the city's income tax on Tuesday.
According to unofficial totals provided by the Belmont County Board of Elections, 992 votes were cast in opposition to the tax, while 301 were cast in favor of the tax hike.
The city currently has a 1% income tax in place, and residents voted on whether to increase the income tax to 2%.
People who live in the city must pay the income tax unless they work in another municipality where they are required to pay an income tax. People who work in Martins Ferry but live elsewhere are required to pay the income tax to the city.
The additional revenue would have helped cover general city expenses including maintaining recreation programs, supporting the police department and tearing down dilapidated homes owned by the city.
Councilman James Schramm said he would make it his top priority to work with council and city officials to rearrange the finances so that the city has enough funds going into next year.
Mayor John Davies previously stated that without increasing the income tax, the city's safety services could suffer.
"You may have less police officers per shift. You may see your EMS creating a fire district with all fire departments in the surrounding area and all EMS in the surrounding area," he said.
Councilwoman Suzanne Armstrong strongly advocated for the income tax increase. She said the city needs the additional income tax revenue because the amount of state and county funding allotted to it has declined. Armstrong also said the city lost needed revenue when East Ohio Regional Hospital closed for more than a year and lost more revenue by providing tax incentives when it reopened.
Armstrong previously said the city needs carryover funds each year to cover January expenses such as payroll.
Armstrong pointed out that the city does not typically receive substantial revenue until March or April.
City officials and council plan to discuss city finances over the next few weeks.