FRANKLIN COUNTY, OH (WCMH) — Franklin County Commissioners voted Tuesday to make permanent a sales tax of 0.25 percent that has been on the books for several years.
The commissioners passed the resolution unanimously Tuesday morning, after a public hearing that included both supporters and opponents.
According to Tyler Lowry, a spokesperson for the commissioners, the quarter-cent rate generates approximately $60 million per year. He said that the county is nationally recognized for strong financial management and “the state has put us in this difficult position by continuing to cut funding.” He also said the action would “ensure fiscal stability for the county without raising taxes.”
The money is expected to be used for capital improvement and infrastructure projects in Franklin County, including new facilities for the county jail. It also funds some social services within the county.
Isi Green of Physicians CareConnection said her organization relies on funding from the county to carry out its services. Among other things, the organization runs a free clinic inside the Columbus Public Health Building.
“We would have been cut with services,” Green said. “[Volunteers are] providing the medical care but we’re providing transportation, we’re providing prescriptions, we have a large immigrant population so we’re providing interpretation for those medical appointments.”
Though the tax was already in place before commissioners voted to pass the resolution to make it permanent, the public hearing at the commissioners’ meeting was packed with people.
Among them was Harold Thomas of the Franklin County Libertarian Party, who said the commissioners should have handled this differently.
“At the very least they could have resolved to renew it for another five years,” Thomas said. “Even better would have been to put it before the people to go for five years.”
He said he would have to take a closer look at the tax itself to see if he supported or opposed it. He speculated that the tax would have passed if it had been put on a ballot but that it was wrong not to give voters the opportunity.
The commissioners said Tuesday that they have the ability to roll back this tax at any time.