Monday, August 27, 2012
Shaker Heights keeping belt tight, looking to grow business base
City operating revenues have been slowly declining since 2007. So Shaker Heights, a mostly residential community, turned to residents earlier this month to approve a 0.5 percent income tax increase. Revenue from income tax collections comprise about half the city’s between $34 million and $36 million general operating revenue. Voters agreed by a 64-to-36 percent margin to the increase and will now pay 2.25 percent in income taxes. “As operating revenues went down, we started reducing the size of our workforce and reducing services, so for the city of Shaker Heights this process has been driven conditionally by the decline of revenue,” Finance Director Bob Baker said. “For a city like Shaker Heights, which is 90 percent residential if not …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Shaker Heights resident Angela Marino writes about an incident she believes exemplifies what's wrong with the police department and city government following the passage of Issue 1
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Thursday, August 16, 2012
(Tuesday evening), around 5:45pm, there were 3 police officers, 2 police cruisers and the K-9 unit on my street, Rawnsdale Road. There were officers on my property and I asked them what was going on. They said they were looking for a kid without a bicycle helmet! There were 2 members of the bike patrol there also. What a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money. A few weeks ago, Mayor Leiken threatened the residents of Shaker to bully residents into voting for an unnecessary income tax increase by stating that the police department would only be able to respond to the most serious of crimes if the income tax increase did not pass. Well, now that it passed, it looks the police department is bored but has to justify their double and triple …
Friday, August 10, 2012
Mark Zetzer says group will remain to educate residents on how government can cut costs
After months of speaking out against the city's income tax increase, the Shaker Heights Taxpayers Union faced defeat Tuesday night when voters approved Issue 1 64 percent to 36 percent. Since the 28-member group's "Vote No" campaign seemed to be a factor through late voting hours on Election Day, President Mark Zetzer was disappointed with the lopsided outcome. "We think we did make an impact," he said. "We still think it's unnecessary, this tax hike. We think it's going to cause more businesses to leave and people to avoid our city." The SHTU's campaign included a parody of the city's logo and was highlighted by a lawsuit over its use and a debate with Mayor Earl Leiken on a local radio show. Zetzer maintains the same concerns he's always…
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Shaker Chamber President Debra Hegler sent a statement to Patch about the income tax increase passage
Editor's note: The Shaker Heights Chamber of Commerce issued the following statement after voters approved Issue 1, an income tax increase of 0.5 percent. The Shaker Heights Chamber of Commerce endorsed the payroll tax increase issue that just passed by special election. The president, Debra Hegler, states, “We are glad that the issue was passed, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief that city services will resume at the high levels we are accustomed to.” She also notes that while glad the initiative passed, “Going forward, we hope to work more closely with city officials in order to develop a viable growth strategy to avoid having to resort to these extreme measures in the future. We cannot cut our way out of our budget problems, we …
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Issue 1 passes with 64 percent of the vote.
Shaker Heights residents will soon be taxed a larger percentage of their income, but that's what they voted for — overwhelmingly. Voters approved Issue 1 by a 64-to-36-percent vote Tuesday night, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. That means the city will receive $6 million from resident wage-earners to replace anticipated losses from state aid. The vote raises the income tax rate from 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent. The final tally was 4,206 to 2,344, according to final results. "We're sorry that this extra burden has had to be absorbed by our residents because of actions in Columbus, but I'm so proud of the residents in our community for stepping forward and taking this on," Mayor Earl Leiken said at a watch party held at…
The mayor speaks at his watch party after voters approve the city's 0.5 percent income tax increase
Mayor Earl Leiken hosted nearly 30 guests Tuesday night at his Colby Road home to watch the results of Issue 1 in Shaker Heights. When news arrived that voters approved the income tax increase by 64 to 36 percent, the crowd applauded and seemingly felt a sense of relief. A speech was in order. The mayor thanked the campaign team, council and more. The issue will bring in an additional $6 million to the city by raising the income tax rate from 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent. Follow Shaker Heights Patch on Twitter and 'Like' us on Facebook!
Read the email Leiken sent to residents, community members just moments after Issue 1's passing.
Editor's Note: Following is the bulletin Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leiken sent to residents and community members immediately following Tuesday's election, when 64 percent of voters passed a half-percent tax increase. Read our article here. Dear Resident, Today's vote makes me very proud to be a resident of Shaker Heights. In the face of reductions imposed by Columbus which have been devastating to our community, our citizens have stood up and fought successfully to preserve their quality of life. In this our Centennial year, it is good to know that Shaker citizens continue to be as resilient and courageous in overcoming challenges as they have been in the past. This campaign represented an enormous effort by hundreds of people who worked …
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Real-time results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections
Issue 1 has passed by a large margin in unofficial election results. Results show that Issue 1, a measure to increase the income tax rate by 0.5 percent to 2.25 percent, has passed 64 to 36 percent. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has counted all precincts. Find more details about the tax issue and why the city believes it needs an increase on our topic page. "Today's vote makes me very proud to be a resident of Shaker Heights," Mayor Earl Leiken wrote in an email sent to residents just minutes after the results were posted. "In the face of reductions imposed by Columbus which have been devastating to our community, our citizens have stood up and fought successfully to preserve their quality of life," he added. He even addressed the…
Shaker Heights Taxpayers Union President Mark Zetzer tries to convert "traditional voters" as people hit the polls after work.
Mark Zetzer couldn't predict the election one way or another by late afternoon, but he made at least one telling statement as he placed more 'Vote No' signs outside Lomond Elementary School. "I say it's possible, more than any other time, that we could defeat this," said Zetzer, president of the Shaker Heights Taxpayers Union. Zetzer and at least three others spent the day placing signs at the city's voting locations and trying to tell people why they shouldn't vote for the 0.5 percent income tax increase proposed in Issue 1. He says that message is going over well, though he's aware of the "Shaker tradition" of voters typically passing levies. "We're saying, 'it's not a bad idea to break tradition if you want to save the community,'" he …
Al Foster Sr. remains hopeful but knows the city is in for a fight
Al Foster Sr. remained hopeful by about 3:30 p.m. on Election Day, but he admitted the city was in for a fight. A former Shaker Heights councilman for 12 years, Foster knows what good voter turnout looks like. He said he didn't see it on Tuesday as he stood in front of the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Community Building handing out literature in support of Issue 1, the city's income tax increase proposal. "The turnout has not been good and it's not been good throughout Shaker," Foster said. "I'm confident that we're going to pick up at 4 p.m. when people get off work." He admitted that he didn't initially think the opposition would make the strong push that it has with just a few hours left until polls close. Though he disagrees with the Shaker …
Katarina Cerny
12:01 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Where were all the people last week? Why did so few turn out for the vote? I can't believe that 18,000 voters were on vacation last week, but I agree that the vote should have been in November. I don't know what the city does with our tax money - the roads are terrible, full of potholes and patches which come out in winter. It's a disgrace. more ›