Save This City: Why The Bexley Income Tax Issue Really Matters

There's been a lot of talk around Bexley about the proposed income tax increase from 2.0% to 2.5%.  I've heard perspectives on the issue from all across the spectrum, ranging from unquestionable support to unbending rejection.  The most common criticism I hear is that the city hasn't cut enough of its expenses - that, just like you or I would, the city should sit down and figure out how to live within its means.  I think it's important to understand the history of Bexley's efforts to cut costs over the past several years, as well as just how gravely the city is going to be affected by State of Ohio budget cuts.

Honing the Budget
Over the past four years the city of Bexley has cut out of its payroll the IT Director position, the Building Department director position, one recreation supervisor position, and multiple service positions.  We have trimmed material costs.  We have done this in order to offset the cost of a badly needed police station facility, and in order to offset the hyper-inflation in our health insurance and fire contracts, among others.  Every budget season, a tremendous amount of time is spent scrutinizing every expense and cost engineering departmental budgets.  All to say, prior to the State of Ohio budget cuts and policy changes the city has been actively trimming expenses and personnel in order to avoid going to the ballot for additional funding.

The Impact of the State of Ohio Budget Cuts and Policy Changes
In the late spring and early summer of 2011, the Ohio governor released his proposed 2011-2013 biennial budget.  The budget contained large cuts to the local government fund.  While this was worrisome, it was of far less concern to Bexley than the loss of the estate tax.  The estate tax has helped us (and other first-ring suburbs) offset our inability to compete when it comes to payroll tax generation, due to our limited commercial land base.  As the state budget debate continued, the elimination of the estate tax was added in as a provision of the budget, and despite Bexley's and other similar communities' combined efforts to fight for a compromise that would allow the city to have a viable means of raising municipal income, the budget passed and was signed into law, cutting 50% from the local government fund and eliminating the estate tax.

There is no less dramatic way to put it -the state budget cuts that were just passed down are going to deal a devastating blow to Bexley's city finances. This isn't a question of how to best spend tax dollars for this or that pet program or possible construction project, or what improvements we want to make over the next 10 or 20 years. This is a question of whether we are going to be able to continue to provide the same basic level of police protection and continue to plow our streets when it snows. I'm not grandstanding or making excuses. I hate the idea of a new tax, but the state just eliminated over 20% of our income capacity. Actually, when you take Bexley's trailing seven year average of the estate tax of $2.24 million and add in the loss of the local government funds, the state budget cuts and policy changes approximate a 25% loss of revenue. That sort of a loss is staggering to a budget like ours - a budget which is fairly trim to begin with, given our lack of lucrative payroll tax. Many years of learning to live within limited means (relative to most other central Ohio suburbs) means that we are entering this budget crisis with very little fat to trim in these lean times.

The income tax issue is only partially filling a gaping hole that presents an immediate threat to basic city services - city services that we rely on and depend on and that keep our community safe and allow it to be the amazing community that we all love and enjoy. And it's important to know that the income tax we're voting on in November isn't filling the entire gap. Since the public meetings this past Spring where council discussed various options with the community, the State of Ohio finalized plans to cut the estate tax, and the hill we need to climb is larger and the challenge more daunting. City leadership is currently working on just how much deeper we'll have to cut to balance the budget over the next 5 years (assuming the income tax increase passes!) - and the immediate task at hand is to preserve as many services as possible given the enormous and reckless cuts to our funding model dealt to us by the State of Ohio.  This ballot issue is about barebones, brass tacks provisioning for basic city services that are in jeopardy, and will frankly remain in jeopardy even if the new tax passes unless the city adequately cuts more today.

Most ballot issues have campaigns that come up with catchy acronyms, or hook us with a vision of something big-picture and exciting.  But what we are fighting to protect here is simple.  If I were asked to come up with a campaign slogan it would be this: save this city. Even if the issue passes, we have a tough road ahead and a lot of hard decisions to make. Save this city. We have been assaulted by a 25% loss in income from the state budget and state policy. Without the support of the voters, this loss will have a dramatic negative impact on city services. Save this city!

Let's provide some stability to Bexley's financial footing, and then let's work together to come up with a unified strategic vision for how to best overcome the remaining financial obstacles that will otherwise stand in our way.


I plan on presenting some more information on this blog regarding the Bexley budget and what has been cut in the past and what each department currently provides.  Check back for more information to come...

LEARN MORE:

May 24th Public Budget Meeting (this blog)

"New State Budget a Blow to Bexley" (ThisWeek News Bexley)