Lorain/Elyria, OH
Lorain mayor offers budget fixes
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LORAIN — What Council asked for was a revenue plan that would finally get the city out of the red.
What it got from Mayor Tony Krasienko this weekend was a revenue plan that would accomplish that — by increasing the city license plate fee and reducing the income tax credit for residents who work outside the city — and an expenditure plan.
Council members were still sifting through the 4-inch-thick, multi-binder proposal Sunday in preparation for today’s Finance/Claims committee meeting.
“It’s pretty far-reaching,” Councilman Dan Given, D-at large, said. “There is a lot of information to digest.”
And Given doesn’t believe residents are going to be pleased with the proposed tax increases.
“They will be storming City Hall with pitchforks,” he said, half-joking. “We attempted to try a license plate tax before for a lesser amount, and the public was upset. It’s no secret the roads in Lorain are similar to a war-torn country. We know something needs to be done. But I’m sure residents will feel just as concerned about this plan, demanding answers.”
Currently, the city collects $5 for every license plate sold in Lorain. The proposed $15 increase would bring in a total of $20 for the city, which would generate a total of more than $1 million a year to go toward road resurfacing.
Along with the license plate fee increase, Council will have to determine whether it wants to implement an income tax credit reduction, which would bring in an additional $3 million per year to the city.
“The response to the license plate fee increase has been pretty positive, as long as the money is spent entirely on the roads,” said Councilwoman Melanie Szabo, I-1st Ward. “Ninety-five percent of the people I spoke to are in favor of it.”
But Friday afternoon was the first she had even heard of an income tax credit reduction.
“There aren’t any jobs in Lorain to be had, so we’re not getting income tax from them,” she said. “I want to hear more about it. There has to be a discussion.”
According to the “City of Lorain Investment Plan,” the increase in taxes would eliminate the budget deficit and pay for additional city services, such as more employees in the building department, engineering department and parks and recreation department; and construction of a new fire station and a new utility complex.
While Given was still perusing the mammoth proposal Sunday and declined to say much, Szabo said she is in favor of some of the additions Krasienko proposed.
“The building department needs to be fully staffed, and the code needs to be fully enforced,” Szabo said. “We’re not going to attract anyone to live in this city when their neighbor’s home looks like it’s going to fall over. We have landlords who own property and don’t care about their rentals. We have people living in deplorable conditions.”
In addition to the proposed changes in the building department, Szabo would like to see the parks department enhanced and the east-side fire department moved, she said.
“We need the city of Lorain to have departments that are fully functional in order for the city to run,” she said.
Councilwoman Anne Molnar, D-at large, agrees.
In fact, she’s in favor of the entire plan — the tax increases and the expenditures for additional buildings, services and employees.
“It’s a good plan,” she said. “All of it is long overdue. The only way we’re ever going to get ahead in this city is to increase taxes.”
Molnar said she would oppose passing the plan as an emergency because it wouldn’t allow for a referendum.
Councilman Dennis Flores, D-2nd Ward, said the plan will likely irk a number of residents, but something needs to be done to generate money for the city. He has questions about the proposal he hopes to get answered tonight.
He is in favor of doing whatever it takes to see the city’s blighted areas cleaned up.
“I’m a little apprehensive (about the plan),” he said. “But on paper, it looks good.”
Councilmen Tim Howard, D-3rd Ward, Eddie Edwards, D-5th Ward, and Greg Holcomb, D-6th Ward, were still going through the proposal as of Sunday night and declined to say much.
But Holcomb said people he has spoken to so far have had positive input about the license plate increase — as long as it gets the roads fixed.
Councilman Mitchell Fallis, D-at large, also was going through the documents, but said he was happy about anything that would get the city to a balanced budget. He also was in favor of funding for road resurfacing but wanted to get more information before commenting on the expenditures.
Krasienko, Councilmen Bret Schuster, D-4th Ward, and Mickey Silecky, D-7th Ward, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7156 or cjolliffe@chroniclet.com.
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Great plan….
I for one have my pitchfork out and ready Mr. Given…
It’s not the amount of money being used/charged that’s the problem, it’s where it is being used.
When I see streets in this city in the “nice” neighborhoods getting patched when there are only an occasional pothole, and streets that do look like war zones in the “bad” neighborhoods going unrepaired for months, it’s no wonder people complain.
This city can afford the extra expense to have grooves cut into Broadway to make it look like brick, but cannot afford to fix other streets…I don’t get it.
Melanie Szabo needs to get a clue…I agree that many of the homes in Lorain are run down in some neighborhoods.
Do you have proof that the “landlords” are at fault?
This city already has in place an inspection program that now requires that every rental property be inspected every two years, while owner occupied homes go uninspected forever. Many of the homes that are in disrepair are OWNER OCCUPIED, yet they are seldom cited and NEVER inspected. A point of sale inspection is also a half-baked place to start, because again, 70% of the property that changes hands in this city is used as rental…again inspecting the people you are already inspecting.
If the council and mayor look back a few years, it was the building departments’ gestapo-like tactics that helped get Koziura run out of town.
Most people think landlords have “deep pockets”…what they do have is “deep numbers” and they vote. A step back to the Jack Murphy era is indeed a step back.
We need to establish a plan where EVERY HOME in this city is EQUALLY inspected, not just a few.
I volunteer my owner occupied home to be inspected first.
I personally had a conversation with Krasienko a few years ago about the property maintenance code. You have to pay to see it…make it easily accessible, and just maybe more people will adhere to it.
Also in this city there are businesses that are enjoying a tax abatement, but are not living up to their end of the bargain…the abatements need to be cancelled.
As far as the parks department needing more people, this I do not understand. The maintenance of Lakeview (north)has been turned over to the County. When I see three people riding in a pick-up truck down the sidewalk on the southern side of West Erie, and one gets out to pick up trash, I wonder how the taxes I pay are being used.
When the water department is working somewhere and one guy is actually working and there are 5 others standing there watching him again I wonder.
Trying to rebuild this city on the backs of its citizens alone will result in one thing only. There MUST be equal sacrifice in that I, as a citizen, will do my part as long as the city does theirs…we must both “pay” if you will.
The supervision of city employees and their effective use must be increased to get the most bang for our buck, not increase their numbers… or we’ll be throwing what little money we have into a bottomless pit.
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Put this in your files and watch what happens. Increase in plate fees will add jobs to friends and families and you will see absolutely no change in the roads. The bldg. department will add postitions for the political supporters and nothing will change. They are talking about tearing down 10 or 15 abandoned condemned homes per year under the new plan. They could tear down 10 to 15 per day and it would take 30 years to clean up the mess. Many streets in the city have that many dumps to raze on that street alone.. They need to privatize some of these functions and run them like a real business instead of playing politics with every program they implement that never succeeds.
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Raven, I believe the rental property inspection is every five years, but regardless, it was just a scam to raise quick cash, and not about safety of the tenants. Inside inspections were never done, and if they were, that’s news to me. The outside inspections, in many cases, were “sit in the driveway and fill out paperwork” as I can personally vouch that they never got out of their vehicle to inspect my property, nor did they ever schedule the inside inspection(like they were supposed to)….and that was what, three years ago already?
I’d gladly pay taxes if there was a job in Lorain that I could go to every day, but unfortunately I have to drive to Avon to work. One plus to working out of the city though, is the roads are more enjoyable to drive on.
I cringed when I read the article, especially when it got to the part about hiring MORE city workers….$600,000/yr worth!
$15 more per year per vehicle for a license plate tax for the roads? Let’s hope they still don’t insist on filling potholes with cold patch. It makes me wonder what’s going to happen with all of those that are currently filled when winter rolls around again….hmm, maybe they’ll dig ‘em all out and fill ‘em with hot patch…yeah right!
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