Salem’s Democratic and Republican parties both pledged their support for the renewal of the city’s .25% income tax and the parks department’s 1-mill operational levy in the upcoming May 6 election joining city administrators and department heads in a press conference Friday. Shown from left are City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello, City Planning and Zoning Officer Chip Hank, City Law Director Brooke Zellers, City Auditor Sal Salvino, Salem Democratic Party Secretary Patty Colian, Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman David Johnson, Police Chief J.T. Panezott, Street Foreman Shawn Smith, Fire Chief Scott Mason, and Parks Director Kelli Pastore. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

SALEM — Republican and Democratic leaders alike pledged their support for the renewal of the city’s .25% income tax and the parks department’s 1-mill operational levy in the upcoming May 6 election in a press conference Friday.

“It is critical that these two renewals are passed [by voters] on May 6,” said Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey.

Salem Democratic Party Secretary Patty Colian and Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman David Johnson said that the Salem Central Committees of both parties had universally expressed their support for both renewals. Both Johnson and Colian stressed that the income tax and levy are both renewals, meaning that they would not cost taxpayers any more than they are already paying.

“We want to stress this is a renewal, this measure was first enacted 10 years ago by a vote of the people and was then approved again after five years and we’re up now for the third time. Again, we want to stress that this is not a new tax but a renewal of an existing tax,” said Johnson.

Voters first approved the additional .25% income tax for capital improvements specifically to streets, sidewalks, alleys, curbs, parking lots, and storm sewers in 2015, last voting to renew the levy in 2019. Johnson said that since 2015 the .25% income tax has collected $13,085,169 which has allowed the city to secure an additional $5,505,505 at no cost to taxpayers through state and federal matching grants it otherwise would not qualify for bringing the actual total of paving funds to $18,590,684.

“One quarter of a penny on a dollar of assessed income is what we’re talking about. A relatively small personal investment that is going to have a large impact on the city,” said Johnson.

“I would just hope that everyone will vote for this. I like living in Salem, we’ve both lived here most of our lives and I think the town is progressing into a wonderful place to live and I hope people will take that into consideration. Your streets are being fixed and tell me what you can buy with a quarter of a percent, because you can’t buy much,” said Colian.

The city has put those funds to work since voters first approved the .25% income tax, paving 163 streets in the city for 44.8 miles of paving representing 69.8% of the city’s streets, alleys and sidewalks.

“When this measure was introduced 10 years ago the reason we adopted this is because the streets in town were deplorable,” Colian said. “There were potholes in streets and heaved up sidewalks… it was unanimously supported to take it to the public for a vote to pass a relatively small tax earmarked for fixing these horrible streets and sidewalks and here we are 10 years later. It’s made an incredible difference in the look of this town.”

Johnson said that the income tax is the source of nearly all the city’s capital improvement funding with the bulk of the city’s general fund being dedicated to operational expenses.

“The dollars that come in currently through the [standard] income tax structure go all to the operations of the city. There is very little left over for capital improvement. Without this you virtually have no investment back into the infrastructure of the town,” said Johnson.

According to the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA), the majority of the $13 million directly generated by the levy wasn’t paid by Salem residents as 84% of the funds generated by the .25% income tax comes from people who work within the city but live elsewhere.

“Of that money 84% has come from people that work in Salem but don’t live here…only 16% of the revenue generated by that tax comes from the resident taxpayers of this city. What a deal to have 84% of this major investment in our city come from people that don’t live here,” said Johnson.

Johnson and Colian also said both parties had unanimously given their support to the renewal of the parks levy which provides nearly half of the department’s annual funding, as it does not receive direct funding from the city’s general fund, with the rest coming from a 1.3 mill recreation levy last renewed by voters in 2022.

“It’s a relatively small levy, its $26 on a $100,000 dollar property, so a mere $26 goes into supporting a levy that represents half of the budget of the parks department. If we don’t pass it you’re going to lose half of the revenue that supports our parks in town,” said Johnson. “We have six parks with baseball diamonds and soccer field and the Centennial [Park] swimming pool where all the kids in town swim. What kind of community would we be if we didn’t give the support that makes that possible.”

“We have the most beautiful parks in the area, they’re well-kept and are really wonderful places, and [the department] does a wonderful job,” said Colian.

Johnson and Colian championed the parks department and the work it does to provide the community with the facilities, services, and programming that have been community fixtures for decades like the Centennial Park pool. Dickey said that over 250,000 people visit Salem’s parks each year and that the majority of the department’s services come at no cost to parkgoers, and that the department is constantly seeking grant funding to make the most of every taxpayer dollar while continuing to provide and improve the services that residents use every year.

“If you want to see the value of your money really go as far as it can, vote to renew both taxes. My grandfather used to say that he could squeeze a nickel to make a dime and that’s what we’ve done here,” said Dickey. “For every penny our taxpayers who live in the city pay for the streets levy we have leveraged twice as much in grants over that period of time, so you literally squeezed that nickel to make a dime.”