(VIDEOS) CATAZARO-PERRY ADMINISTRATION & MASSILLON CITY COUNCIL ON SAME PAGE?

VIDEOS

MAYOR KATHY CATAZARO-PERRY

ANSWERS

"THE" KEY QUESTION

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COUNCILMAN ED LEWIS

ON

THE MAYOR'S ANSWER

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COUNCILMAN PAUL MANSON

ON

THE MAYOR'S ANSWER

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THE ENTIRE COUNCIL WORK SESSION

A key moment in Massillon City Council's work session last night?

The question.

Would Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry support an income tax increase of .2 percent to bring the total Massillon City income tax up from 1.8% to 2%.

"Let's ask her," said Ward One Councilwoman Sarita Cunningham-Hedderly (a Republican).

And with Cunningham-Hedderly's request, the mayor took to the dock and answered the question.



After some assurances from various council members (principally Democrat Paul Manson and Republican Ed Lewis, chairman of Finance) she said she would.

Hallelujah!

Finally, finally after two and one-half years of wrangling the mayor of Massillon shows that she can work with council.

Those occasions have been few and far between.

And there has been absolutely no concord on ways and means to raise revenue for the city as Massillon drifted towards and ended up being declared by the State of Ohio to being  in fiscal emergency on October 8, 2013.

On March 25th the Massillon Financial Planning and Supervision Commission rejected council's first recovery plan.  The hang up was council's insistence that the part of the plan reducing the income tax credit that Massillonians working out-of-town get on their Massillon income tax returns was set to sunset on December 31, 2015.

Under the new plan, only if the income tax plan passes will the tax credit reduction go away.

Also part of the plan approved by council last night in its formal meeting which started one hour after the work session ended is a $25 street lighting fee per property with a building on it.

There were differences among council members as to whether or not a list of alternative revenue raising/expense saving measures (a back up plan should the income tax increase fail) should be made part of the overall plan.  In the end,  council by a 7 to 2 show of hands decided to leave the back up measures out of the basic plan.

Massillonians should be encouraged by the "break through of political sunshine" which appears to occurred last night.  Gone was the harshness of previous sessions of council and the combativeness between the mayor and various council members.

It has been a long, tortured road to get Mayor Catazaro-Perry and council on more or less the same page.  The Report believes that credit should go to both the mayor and council members.

After the work session, the SCPR spoke with Councilman Lewis and Councilman Manson.

First, Councilman Lewis.



Next Councilman Manson.



Here is the video for the entire work session.