Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Vote NO on Taxes in April & May 2015!!!

Have you had enough? I know I have. Services cut, increased costs, pitiful streets, no cuts in local government employee benefits, no cut backs except where we residents of Portsmouth needed it most, ugly/dirty/trashy town!

Vote no on increase in city income taxes - they were raised just TWO years ago! Now Council wants to raise them again! 

Last time, city firefighters and others scared seniors living at Hillview and other senior apartment complexes that if the city income tax was not raised, their lives would be threatened! But, guess what, these folks don't pay the income taxes we pay and the fire department averages 2 - 2 1/2 involved fires a month! Seems there are plenty personnel to fight this number.

Neither that time nor this time has City Council taken out the minimum number of police & fire personnel required by language in the City Charter dating to the 1970s. We need fire fighters but we need garbage collection, parks, streets, water, sewer and other personnel to provide needed services.

Do a salary survey, raise salaries as needed but require the city employees to pay their part of their pension and more for their insurance. Jim Kalb decreased the employees' contribution to zero because he wanted us to pay his 10% share in addition to the city's 14% - we pay a total of 24% for most employees, but 29% for police officers and 34% for firefighters!

And why should we pay more in property taxes for the 700+ students at the Vern Riffe School? What have been their cuts? Have they written grants? I don't want to pay an extra $70+ per year for these 700+ students. Sorry!

Enough is enough. Vote No on the city income tax increase (change in City Charter) and to the 1.95 mills for the Scioto Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Make cuts, we have!

_____________________
 
 
By Frank Lewis
Last updated: March 31. 2015 9:41AM
flewis@civitasmedia.com 

Three people will be vying to become the Sixth Ward Portsmouth City Council representative; two people are seeking to become the Democratic challengers to Jim Warren as mayor of New Boston; Portsmouth voters will decide whether to give the city an income tax increase and Scioto County voters will consider an additional 1.95 mills for the Scioto County Board of Developmental Disabilities, when they vote in the May 5 primary election.

Incumbent Sixth Ward Councilman Jeff Kleha is challenged by Tom Lowe and Shawn Stratton in the May primary. Kleha was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Steve Sturgill, who resigned when he moved from the city to outside the city’s jurisdiction. That move was prompted by the purchase of his home by the state of Ohio as a part of the Portsmouth Bypass project. The two candidates with the highest number of votes will go head to head in November.

Gary Stephenson and New Boston Councilman William Williams, Jr., will go head to head to decide who will challenge Warren as mayor of New Boston in November.
The city is attempting to offset the loss of local government funds from the state of Ohio and will ask voters to increase their income tax rate by 0.5 percent. The Board of DD is asking for the 1.95 mills for 5 years. Valley Township has a bond issue for 2.85 mills for 24 years for a community service building while Jefferson Township voters will decide on whether to vote for a 1 mill for a senior center and 1 mill for EMS service, both for a period of five years.
“April 7 absentee voting begins,” Julia Gearheart, director of the Scioto County Board of Elections, said. “Our hours will be from 8 (a.m.) till 5 (p.m.). Our last day to register to vote will be April 6 and we will be here from 8:30 (a.m.) till 9 (p.m.).”

Absentee ballots will be mailed to those who have requested them. “April 7 will be the first day that we will mail them out,” Gearheart said. Voter registration forms are available at MyOhioVote.com or from local boards of elections and other designated agencies, such as libraries and BMVs. Should voters have moved since the last election, they should also act now to update their voting address online at MyOhioVote.com. 

Voters must complete, sign and seal their voted ballots, taking care to provide the required information, including proper identification. Voted ballots must be postmarked the day before Election Day and received no later than the 10th day after the election (May 15, 2015). They should be mailed to Scioto County Board of Elections, 602 Seventh St., Room 105, Portsmouth, Ohio, 45662. Absentee ballots may also be delivered in person to boards of elections no later than the close of the polls on Election Day. They may not be returned at polling locations. 

etc., etc.