MANSFIELD — Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry didn’t mince words on Wednesday afternoon in speaking to state lawmakers about Ohio House Bill 335.
She used words like “irreparable harm” and “catastrophic” in describing the impact of the proposed legislation to cities like Mansfield, testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee.
The first-term mayor joined a chorus of voices opposing a Republican state lawmaker’s bill that would reduce property taxes by eliminating the 1-percent of property tax value that schools and local governments can levy without voter approval – known as inside millage.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson), would eliminate inside millage, which legislative researchers have said would affect $3.5 billion in property taxes collected by local governments and schools.
Thomas said eliminating inside millage could return that money to homeowners who are seeing huge spikes in their property tax bills. He has said local governments and schools can pass income or sales tax levies to make up for the lost revenue.
Perry, who told City Council during its meeting Tuesday evening she would be headed to Columbus to testify, told state lawmakers the inside millage represents about $2.7 million annually in Mansfield’s general fund budget.
“That is about 7 to 8 percent of our general fund each year. So sounds not catastrophic. However, the largest part of our general fund is the safety forces. It’s about 50 percent of our general fund,” Perry said.
“There is no way to avoid a cut there, if this is cut back. We simply are not in the position of other governments that (are) carrying huge carryovers and has a lot of money to fall back on.
“That works out to about 26 police officers and firefighters, perhaps a few more if you want to talk about street workers and some of the infrastructure,” the mayor said.
“I can tell you firsthand that this would cause irreparable harm to cities and other local governments across the state,” Perry said, speaking as part of the Mayors Association of Ohio.
Perry said the impact of HB 335 would hamstring the city’s efforts to attract police and firefighters.
“Our police department has not been fully staffed in eight years,” Perry said of a division budgeted for 87 sworn officers. “And just like larger cities around the state, we are suffering from an increase in crime.
“As I was taking office, we came out of the largest homicide rate we have ever had with 12 homicides (in 2023). Last year was 8, which is an improvement, but still too many.
“We are understaffed currently in our police department by eight, and this is going to only exacerbate that problem, which I have a very big concern about,” Perry said.
Thomas asked if lawmakers allowed inside millage to continue if local officials could work to keep taxes not approved by voters from continuing to rise.
“I think that is a way to preserve what we have, but limit the impact to taxpayers in the future, which makes some sense to me,” Perry said.
The Mansfield mayor said the city’s income tax is at 2.25 percent, “so there is zero opportunity” to raise it for general fund purposes.
“I mean, I legally could go to the voters to ask for additional, but I can tell you already what that (answer) is going to be. Ultimately, our bet in Mansfield is growth. We want growth … more people paying taxes, spreading that burden out so that it’s not falling on just a few individuals,” the mayor said.
Perry told lawmakers the mayors’ association represents the 30 largest cities in Ohio.
“We’re number 23 and there’s a vast difference between us and Columbus or Cleveland. There’s a lot of us mid-sized cities that this is going to have a much larger impact on,” the mayor said.
