To support Toledo, vote for Issue 1

Issue 1 on the March 6 ballot asks Toledo voters whether they want to renew a 0.75 percent city income tax that was first enacted in 1982. Thinking about how to make the case for the proposal, I went to "The Vault" -- the repository of City Council records in One Government Center -- to review the history of the original tax.

Council transcripts and Blade articles from 30 years ago describe a difficult time for Toledo. City officials were cutting services to the bone but still faced a multimillion-dollar deficit.

Weekly trash pickup was halted. Hundreds of employee layoffs loomed.

To save the city, council members asked voters to approve an additional income tax of which proceeds would be divided equally among the police and fire departments, the city general fund, and the capital improvement program. Fortunately, Toledoans agreed.

The fiscal challenges we face today are similar to those of 1982. The income tax remains Toledo's largest source of revenue, but city revenues are lagging behind expenses.

When Toledoans suffer because of a bad job market, the city's coffers also suffer. Although the economy is starting to improve, we are not yet out of the woods.

In 2008, the Great Recession decimated our income-tax collections. Even under the most optimistic projections, we will still end this year millions of dollars short of where we were in 2007 in raising tax revenue.

City leaders have worked diligently to reduce spending to balance the budget in these challenging times. Recent labor contracts include wage freezes and pension-pickup givebacks. The city has sold assets that we do not need and has delayed filling job vacancies.

Income tax collections are slowly rising, but the need for the 0.75 percent tax to maintain police and fire protection and other basic services is as important as ever. The failure of Issue 1 would have catastrophic consequences for the city's ability to maintain public safety, help senior citizens, and pave roads.

The 0.75 percent tax always has appeared on the ballot as a temporary measure; it lasts for four years at a time. Because the tax is vital to preserving city services, council members debated whether to ask voters to make it permanent. But we decided that continuing to seek renewal of the tax every four years requires city leaders to be fiscally responsible.

The formula for dividing proceeds from the tax is virtually the same as it was in 1982, with one change: When the mayor and council agree that a fiscal need exists, money may be transferred from the capital improvement program. This flexibility has prevented the city from having to lay off police officers during exceedingly tough financial times.

Toledoans frequently express concerns about the state of our roads. Mayor Mike Bell's administration has addressed this issue with an innovative plan for road paving. By changing the structure of our debt within the capital improvement program, we will have millions more dollars to pave roads this year and next year.

Some taxpayers suggest that changes in trash service in Toledo mean the city no longer needs the full 0.75 percent tax. Trash collection, an expensive undertaking, has two components: collection and disposal. The city still needs to operate and maintain its landfill to store trash after it is collected.

This new city budget allocates $4.4 million for this service. Had the city not made changes to trash service, millions of dollars would have been added to the structural deficit. But the city is still helping to provide for refuse service out of its general fund, which is mostly supported by the income tax.

City leaders are committed to continuing to work to find efficiencies while delivering needed services to taxpayers. When this year's history of the 0.75 percent tax is added to The Vault, I hope we can stuff its file full of material that demonstrates another strong community endorsement.

Please join me in supporting Toledo by voting for Issue 1.

Joe McNamara is president of Toledo City Council.