MANSFIELD — Two popular municipal income taxes will continue to be collected in Mansfield.
City voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the renewal of the PRIDE Tax and the Pothole Haters Tax, a pair of four-year, quarter-percent income taxes that each generate about $4.8 million annually.
“I felt like people have seen the value of both of these taxes for a long time,” Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry said Tuesday night.
“We had good feedback from voters (going into the election.) But you never know when something is (on the ballot),” Perry said. “We didn’t take it for granted and we appreciate the voters’ support.”
According to final, unofficial totals from the Richland County Board of Elections, the PRIDE Tax was approved by 63 percent of the voters with 1,555 votes in favor and 922 against.
Voters approved the Pothole Haters Tax with 1,658 votes in favor (66 percent) and 843 against (34 percent), according to the Board of Elections.
Citywide, it appears only 9.13 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the primary. There were 2,515 votes case on the two taxes in a city of 27,547 registered voters.
Both of the tax issues renewed Tuesday 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 an 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 for streetlights.
In 2025, it’s the only funding in the city’s budget for parks, an area Perry has focused efforts since taking office in January 2024.
“The city has been doing work in the parks for years. We are communicating it to citizens more and we certainly are doing more at this point. It’s probably the area of the biggest feedback I have gotten (as mayor),” the mayor said.
“People appreciate the parks, regardless of where they are on the political spectrum.”
The mayor said the PRIDE Tax funds that flow into the police and fire departments are essential, along with the half-percent Safety Forces tax renewed by voters in 2023.
“It would have slowed out ability to bring staffing up in the police department … larger capital expenses … all of that would be thrown into question,” she said. “We are making (staffing) progress on the police side. But there are reasons it takes awhile to get people.
“This (PRIDE renewal) keeps us on track.”
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.
The mayor said the annual resurfacing program would “virtually disappear” without the Pothole Haters Tax.
“The share of the gas tax the city gets covers our staffing in the street department and maybe a couple of small projects. All of the paving we do is exclusively from this tax … full stop,” Perry said.