The Dispatch wrote
Bad economy may scare weary voters
Sunday, June 15, 2008
BY ROBERT VITALE AND CHARLIE BOSS
Gas stations and grocery stores don’t need your permission to raise their prices. Cities and schools do. And the ones that are planning tax requests for the Nov. 4 ballot are fretting that you’ll be carrying a lot of economic frustration to the polling place.
“You really want people to be in an optimistic mind-set when you’re doing something like this,” said Greg Haas, a Democratic political consultant who has advised Columbus on past tax requests. “People right now mostly are pessimistic.”
Columbus city officials sought ways this week to trim a bond issue that they’re set to unveil Thursday. It wouldn’t raise taxes; it simply would give the city the authority to borrow money for major projects. But a price tag once estimated at about $2 billion suddenly seems more difficult to sell even with a no-new-taxes disclaimer.
Franklin County voters have approved a majority of tax and bond issues over the past two decades, even in tough times. Since 2001, a span in which Ohio has struggled economically, 143 of 216 ballot requests from cities, villages, townships, schools and tax-supported agencies have won at the ballot box.
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