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Tuesday, 28 August 2007 |
Councilors hope income tax will help fortify village funds
By KRISTIN REICHARDT
Staff Writer
WAYNESFIELD — Waynesfield Village Council members took a step to boost the village coffers, in a move none say they want to take but most say they feel is necessary for the village’s development.
On Monday, councilors heard the first reading of an ordinance to enact a 1 percent income tax that will be levied on the active incomes of village residents, and on village-based companies, entities and individuals engaged in business in the village.
This tax would become effective and be withheld by employers beginning Jan. 1.
Councilors also heard the first reading of an ordinance to provide a dollar-for-dollar offset, or credit, against the income tax of up to 1 percent for village residents who pay taxes in other municipalities.
The village plans to use the Cleveland-based Central Collection Agency for the administration, collection and distribution of the generated proceeds.
“It’s nothing that we want to do, but it’s a matter of going forward,” Council President Chris Kaufman said following Monday’s monthly council meeting. “No one wants to pay it — I don’t want to pay it — but it’s just to get us over this hump.”
In researching the income tax, councilors looked at other villages of comparable size, population age and economic status to the Waynesfield, specifically Alger.
Alger’s income tax annually brings in approximately $50,000, Kaufman said, which is feasible for Waynesfield.
“We were figuring it could generate roughly $23,000 to $50,000 per year,” Kaufman said. “It could be more, it could be less. We’ll know more once we start getting it in place.”
He stressed enacting the income tax is intended to serve as a short-term solution, just to get the village through this stage of development.
Councilors began discussing and researching implementing a potential income tax in late winter, and Kaufman, councilors John Chiles and Ronda Knox, and Mayor Mike Ridenour, among others, have expressed multiple times the need to help offset costs incurred from the various grants for which the village is applying.
The grants are funding village improvement projects such as construction of the new water treatment plant and installing new storm sewers and water meters.
“It gets expensive applying for grants,” Knox said following the meeting. “The match has to come from somewhere.”
Knox said while any additional taxes will add a strain to many residents’ budgets, she hopes people remember they are paying to benefit themselves, as well, in helping fund village improvements.
“We can either move on or go stagnant,” Knox said.
Councilor Rodney Luma, who cast the lone dissenting vote toward implementing the income tax, said he agreed the village needs money but does not agree in the income tax as a solution.
“I don’t think it’s time,” Luma said after the meeting. “They (the residents) are taxed to death now. When people are already hurting for money, they don’t need to be taxed anymore.” |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 August 2007 )
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