After months of deliberation, the City of Delaware will officially be back on the ballot in November for an income tax levy.
During Monday’s meeting of the Delaware City Council, a resolution was passed for a proposed increase of 0.45%, which would move Delaware’s income tax rate from 1.85% to 2.30%. As part of the proposal, the income tax credit for those working outside of Delaware would also increase from 50 to 65%.
The ballot language will now be submitted to the Delaware County Board of Elections for certification ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5.
In March, voters soundly turned down a levy that would have increased the income tax rate to 2.2% for a five-year period, allowing residents to see how the additional funds were being used by the city before deciding on renewal at the end of the cycle.
If passed, the levy would generate an additional $7.6 million to fund improvements to the city’s infrastructure. Along with the existing levy and current capital, the city would have approximately $9.5 million in total available. At the July 8 council meeting, Director of Management, Budget, and Procurement Alycia Ballone proposed allocating $5.3 million for street maintenance and repairs and $4.2 million for capital improvements.
Under Ballone’s allocation proposal, the city would target 10 miles of roadway paved each year. Through the first five years, the city would focus primarily on the backlog of streets rated in poor or critical condition. Ballone also noted the additional funding would allow the City to apply for grants it may not be able to currently seek due to the lack of local funding required to match the grant amount.
Last month, a resolution was passed by the council to repeal the previous language that was approved in May in order to present a more concise message of how the additional funding would be used in the city. The original version of the proposed ballot language included wording that allowed the city to use the dollars generated by the increase for “general municipal services.”
After a unanimous vote by the council last month, the “general municipal services” aspect of the resolution was removed and now only includes funds being used for the “purposes of paying the costs of capital improvements, maintenance and repair of streets, and the payment of securities issued therefor.”
Should the levy fail, the council has said it will consider entirely eliminating the credit to address the revenue shortfall. If the credit is eliminated, the City estimates an additional $6.7 million would be generated.
“This is a very consequential matter for the city,” City Manager Tom Homan said last month. “We’ve spent a lot of time on it. It’s inarguable that we need the capital dollars for infrastructure, and that just kind of runs the gamut from our roads and our bridges and streets to our sidewalks, alleys, trails, parks, all our facilities, all of that really kind of falls under that umbrella of infrastructure and the need for it for the city.”
Additional information on the levy as well as a tax calculator can be found at www.delawareohio.net/government/city-hall/income-tax-proposal.
Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on X @DillonDavis56.
