MANSFIELD — Mansfield residents will see a couple of familiar tax issues on the May 6 primary ballot.
The City of Mansfield is seeking the renewal of a pair of four-year, quarter-percent municipal income tax issues — the Pothole Haters Tax and the PRIDE tax.
As renewals, neither tax represents an increase.
Both issues, each of which generate about $4.8 million annually, were overwhelmingly re-approved in May 2021.
News Man Weekly podcast
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry and Safety Service Director Keith Porch will appear on the News Man Weekly Podcast to discuss the Pothole Haters and PRIDE tax issues that are on the May 6 primary ballot.
The episode will drop on Tuesday, April 29, at the Richland Source website, hosted by Deputy Managing Editor Carl Hunnell.
The Pothole Haters issue received support from 76.2 percent of city voters four years ago while the PRIDE tax was approved by 72.3 percent of the voters.
“Crucial is the best way to describe both of these taxes,” Mayor Jodie Perry has said.
“The PRIDE tax funds a good chunk of our safety services, demolitions and our entire parks budget, other than what we allocated this year from the general fund.
“We do millions of dollars of street resurfacing every year and we would not have the money in our budget to do that work without these funds,” Perry said of the Pothole Haters Tax.
Both tax issues have long histories of success in the city.
The origins of the PRIDE tax fund in the Mansfield date back more than a decade as the city emerged from a state-ordered fiscal emergency.
It’s an acronym for a voter-approved, quarter-percent municipal income tax that helps pay for a combination of parks and recreation, illumination (re: streetlights), demolition and emergency services (police/fire.)
Under the tax, 50 percent must be used for safety forces with 22 percent for parks and recreation, 20 percent for demolition of vacant properties and blight and eight percent streetlights.
The tax was narrowly first approved by city voters in the general election in 2013 with 3,414 (51.05) percent in favor and 3,273 (48.95) against.
The city began collecting the tax in January 2014. It emerged from fiscal emergency in July of that year.
The PRIDE tax was renewed by wider margins during primary elections in 2017 and 2021.
The “Pothole Haters” tax has helped local road work, including resurfacing, for more than three decades.
Residents have overwhelmingly supported the issues in recent years. Taxes collected under it can only be used for city streets.
In 2024, the city resurfaced 18.8 miles of its 321 miles of streets at a cost of $4.3 million. It has plans to pave about 25 miles in 2025.