Less than a week before the special election, more than half of Lyndhurst

LYNDHURST, Ohio — Less than a week before the special election, more than half of Lyndhurst residents want to approve a half-percent income tax increase, according to a Shelvie Communications poll.

Lyndhurst would collect $2 million annually if income taxes are increased from 1.5 to 2 percent, in the Aug. 5 election.

Since the city's 50-percent tax credit won't change, both Lyndhurst workers and residents will pay the increase. Those who earn $60,000 annually will pay $300 more to Lyndhurst.

"Fifty-four percent saying they're likely to vote for it is a positive step in the right direction for our community," Councilman Lane Schlessel said. "If someone is still undecided they should reach out to their ward councilman and ask the questions they have.

"Just to vote against it without getting the facts isn't doing the community a service."

Shelvie polled 1,860 of the 14,000 adults in Lyndhurst earlier this month. More than a quarter of residents said they were undecided, and 18 percent disapproved of the tax hike. About three-quarters of the respondents were women.

In an effort to promote the new company, Shelvie Communications has conducted and paid for polls on several local issues throughout the past month.


Lyndhurst planned to pay the Melamed consulting firm $30,000 to communicate with residents about the income tax proposal. Officials held two telephone town halls and a breakfast.

A resident group is leading another campaign to promote the issue.

Schlessel said one of the most common questions he's received has been from senior citizens asking whether the income tax increase will affect their pensions and Social Security, but the tax is on earned income only.

"Residents who aren't engaged just look at the word tax and they confused that with the school levy they just passed," he said. "It has nothing to do with that. It's a totally separate ballot issue.

"The city hasn't put a tax issue on the ballot in decades."

Finance Director Mary Kovalchik predicts the city will spend $2 million of its reserves this year and will not be able to maintain police and fire services come 2015 without the tax increase.

State cuts to the Local Government Fund; the loss of the estate tax, which generated $1.4 million for Lyndhurst last year and is being phased out by the state; and declining property values contributed to the city's financial state, Kovalchik said.

Kovalchik predicts the city will collect $762,000 less in property taxes in 2014 than it did in 2009. Cuts from the state have cost Lyndhurst about $683,000, she said, and she expects the loss of the estate tax to reduce revenues by $500,000.