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AROUND LAKE COUNTY
TAXPAYER ALERT: Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools propose 2.5% income tax hike!
Just the 
FACTS:
Proposal would more than DOUBLE your local income tax. If passed, most residents in western Lake County would pay a combined local income tax rate of 4.5%. New requirement to file school district income tax return (Form SD 100). Local leaders fear mass exodus of wage earners to lower-taxed jurisdictions, followed by collapse in property values. First vote by school board planned on Monday, January 12th, at 6pm to place the income tax hike on the ballot this May.
WHO is proposing this?
Stacy Menser, President
Jaime Shatsman, Vice President
Gabrielle Miller, Member
Rhonda Osagie-Erese, Member
Denise Verdi, Member*
Patrick Ward, Superintendent
Nick Ciarniello, Treasurer
*Member Denise Verdi has clarified that she does NOT support placing an income tax hike on the ballot.
WHAT is their justification?
At their December meeting, school board members and their staff publicly expressed support for placing a permanent 2.5% income tax on the May ballot to raise over $40 million a year. They are frustrated with having to go back for voter approval every year for their emergency levies. They are also concerned that recent state property tax reforms would limit the automatic inflation increases in property taxes they were accustomed to receiving and spending. Bottom line, if they trade a permanent income tax for some of their property tax levies, they no longer need to go back for voter approval, and will still get inflationary increases in their remaining property tax levies. Plan to sell as eventually reducing property taxes.
REACTION from local leaders.
Reliable sources say all or most local leaders in the district are 
% OPPOSED to the income tax hike. They recognize raising taxes in the most anti-tax environment in Ohio history is political suicide. They recognize that taxpayers are already maxed out.
Mayor John Marra of Timberlake Village has issued the following statement: “This isn’t about schools — it’s about your paycheck. Willoughby–Eastlake City Schools are proposing a plan to raise $42.4 million every year by stacking a new 2.5% earned income tax on top of property taxes that already remain under the 20-mill floor. This creates immediate paycheck shock for working families, taking thousands of dollars a year before it can be spent locally — before it reaches small businesses, home repairs, childcare, or savings. This is not a true replacement for expiring levies; it shifts the burden away from businesses and squarely onto wage earners. A 2.5% earned income tax drains disposable income, weakens local businesses, pushes working families out, and locks the community into a dependency cycle with no guarantee of better outcomes. An earned income tax should never be imposed on our communities — and this proposal by Willoughby–Eastlake Schools must be stopped entirely.”
BOTTOM LINE
The Willoughby-Eastlake school board meeting this Monday might be your last real chance to express your concerns on the vote to raise your taxes. Please SHARE!
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Phone: (440) 357-1200
