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Mayor promises cuts after defeat of $4-a-day fee
By Suzanne
Hoholik, The Columbus Dispatch Columbus officials will have to live within the city's budget after voters rejected a $4-a-day tax on rental cars. The tax, which failed 62 percent to 38 percent in unofficial vote totals, was expected to raise $6 million to $10 million for the city's general fund. "The voters don't want any more taxes," said Kevin Miles of Budget Rent-a-Car. "That's why we went to the (Ohio) Supreme Court" to put the issue on the ballot. Scott Pullins of the Ohio Taxpayers Association agreed: "It's still very hard to pass a tax increase, and we were able to educate people that this wasn't a tax on visitors." City Council President Matt Habash said he wasn't surprised. "It's a tax, and in this climate, I expected that," he said. "It's been an uphill battle since day one." Even if the tax had passed, city officials still expected to cut some services in the 2003 budget. Mayor Michael B. Coleman said the extent of the budget cuts will become apparent on Nov. 15 when he unveils the 2003 budget. "The people have spoken," Coleman said. "They prefer to see deep cuts in our city budget that will have an impact on service." East Side resident Jacki Tate voted against the tax at Ohio Avenue Elementary. "I just don't think it's fair," she said. "When you need a car, you shouldn't have to pay that." Across town at Crestview Middle School in Clintonville, furniture-store owner Pedro Zamora said the pro-tax campaign convinced him. "I bit into the pitch that it was a tax against visitors," he said. The tax was recommended last year by the mayor's Economic Advisory Committee as one of three ways to boost the city's revenue as income-tax receipts continue to decline. The other two recommendations -- increasing parking fines and charging insurance companies and the federal government for ambulance runs -- haven't been challenged. Kevin Ifkovits of Enterprise Rent-A-Car said the city underestimated rental-car companies. "We're not opposed to taxes," he said, "but they need to be more broad-based and not put it on just one industry." The City Council approved the tax in June. Council members thought they'd appeased the rental-car industry by putting a three-year sunset clause on the tax, requesting annual reviews and providing three exemptions. But the opposition fought all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court to put the issue before voters. Officials maintained during the campaign that the tax would not affect Columbus residents. Instead, Habash and Coleman said the burden would be pushed to the 7 million who visit the city each year. But Miles and other managers of local
rental-car agencies said 52 percent of their business comes from local
customers. |
