Issue 28 is right choice

Going to the polls on Election Day Tuesday, perhaps your path will take you along one of the streets in town in need of repair. Perhaps you will go past the fire station and see the crowded apparatus bays, giving clues to the crowed conditions throughout the building.

Perhaps you will consider walking to the polls, but think better of that idea because your route includes sections without sidewalks. When you arrive at the polls, we would urge a vote for Issue 28, the city's 0.2-percent, 10 year earned income tax levy.

For years, the city has put off renovation of the fire station and installing sidewalks, particularly on city-owned property, because the funds simply were not available. While money has been budgeted each year for street maintenance and repair, it has never been enough to keep ahead of the ravages of the freeze-thaw cycles.

Issue 28 will provide city officials an additional $5 million over 10 years to address these issues that can not be met through the current 0.5-percent capital improvement income tax levy. The city's stellar bond rating indicates sound fiscal management, but the costs of the infrastructure to be addressed by Issue 28 simply can not be met with current revenue.

While the ballot language will indicate Issue 28 is additional, it actually represents no additional taxes. It will replace a current 0.2-percent income tax levy, approved by voters in 1998 to pay for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency had mandated those improvements and voters overwhelmingly approved the levy, which increased taxes. Now, after 10 years of paying this minimal tax, we have a chance to extend it to pay for things we as a community have determined we want and need.

A yes vote on Issue 28 will actually leverage funds from outside the community. According to city finance director Sal Talarico, 74 percent of city income tax revenue comes from people who work in Oberlin but live elsewhere.

As a result, Oberlin residents will pay only about 26 percent of the costs of the infrastructure we need. And that assumes projects receive no outside funding through state or federal grants.

While some of those non-resident workers might complain they have no voice in this tax, we would argue they will reap benefits as well as residents. Those workers drive to work on the same streets that need repair and depend on the fire department to make sure their work places meet fire code and to protect their work places in case of a fire.

As an extension of a tax we are already paying, this is as close as getting something for nothing as we are likely to get. We urge voters to approve Issue 28.