City remains vigilant on tax issue

The city of Avon Lake is vowing to remain vigilant after a controversial provision in Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s budget was removed last week.

The Ohio House Finance Committee approved new language for a substitute budget bill, removing Kasich’s proposed centralized tax collection language, according to an April 26 release from the Ohio Municipal League.

The changes will remove the municipal net profit business tax filings provision in addition to the 1 percent service fee levied to municipalities for processing.

The new provision would have shifted taxation authority for the collection of net profit business income for municipal corporations and business entities from RITA (Regional Income Tax Authority) to the state government.

Avon Lake Mayor Gregory Zilka said the city will be cautiously monitoring the situation amid fears the provision could be re-inserted into the budget.

“We are going to be monitoring it. We always send letters down on a regular basis, but if we see it drift back we will be on it,” Zilka said on May 1.

The issue stems back to the concerns of Avon Lake and several other municipalities of the lack of municipal oversight and concerns the language may open the door for more tax authority to be shifted to state control.

“We are going to be vigilant on this. Every mayor I have talked to says it is an issue of local control,” Zilka said.

Avon Lake City Council passed a resolution last month opposing the provision and calling for its removal, joining other municipalities across the state.

At the April 3 Avon Lake Collective Council Meeting, Avon

Lake Finance Director Steve Presley expressed concerns over the lack of municipal oversight and the concern such provisions

open the door to more taxation authority being shifted to the state level.

“They do quote a fee of 1 percent, but that is subject to change at the state’s whim and we have no authority or any vote or any oversight to get into to any of that,” Presley said. “And

there is concern that this could lead into a creek of the state trying to collect other municipal income taxes.”

To date, Zilka said there has been no official response from the state as to how and when this money will be collected, threatening

the fiscal position of Avon Lake and other municipalities around the state. The city intends to continue working with the Ohio Municipal League and the Lorain County Mayors and Managers Association in future efforts to oppose the provision.