Taxes outstanding

Delinquent taxpayers do owe Stark County $40-million, the highest in four years. But, records show about half of that is noncollectable for a variety of reasons including things like companies going out of business and people dying.  And, judging by past collections the County may be able to bring in about half of the remainder, perhaps $10-million of what’s due.

No relief

That still won’t help with the county’s operating budget crisis.  John Anthony is the assistant Stark County prosecutor who deals with delinquent taxes. “The taxes that are collected are primarily for the school boards.  And only about 3% of those taxes, by law, go to the general fund.”

Cuts

Anthony says the county doesn’t pursue some cases because they cost more to prosecute than can be collected. “We have limited resources in the office.  Earlier in the year we had a budget cut, and we did have to scale down the personnel that we devoted to this.”

Going to the voters

Stark County’s one half of one percent sales tax proposal is on the November 8^th ballot. In 2009 voters turned down renewal of a similar tax, and since it's expiration earlier this year, Stark has been the only county in Ohio without a county sales tax.  If the current tax proposal is approved, the county would still remain tied with three other counties for the lowest overall total sales tax (fall sources combined including the state sales tax) in Ohio.