Toledo income tax collections up 8.3 percent for first quarter

Toledo Finance Director Patrick McLean, left, seen here with Mayor Mike Bell, said the city's declining unemployment rate is a reason for the increase.

The Bell administration announced Thursday that first quarter income tax collections for the city of Toledo had increased more than 8 percent over the same period last year.

City Finance Director Patrick McLean told City Council’s finance committee that the improving economy and the declining rate of joblessness had netted Toledo an increase of 8.3 percent during the first three months. So far, the city collected $22.58 million from the income tax, which is 1.73 million more than the same time last year.

“Look at our unemployment,” he said. “It is slowly going down compared to the start of 2010 … and there are 5,500 more Toledoans working.”

The city’s unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in March, compared to 10.5 percent in February. It was 12.2 percent in March, 2010.

Toledo City Council on March 29 approved the city’s 2011 budget.

In the spending plan, the Bell administration predicts the city will collect $147.98 million from the 2.25 percent income tax. Of that, $4 million is expected to come from delinquent income tax collections.