Summit County voters rejected a proposal Tuesday to increase their local sales tax.
Issue 12 was defeated 56 percent to 44 percent, according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections. The 10-year tax would have raised more than $20 million a year for public safety and other operations.
“I’m not going to lie. I’m very disappointed,” Sheriff Steve Barry said. “This was a true need. This was not a want. ... We’re going to have to definitely do cuts at the Summit County Jail and at the agency. There’s no getting around it.”
County leaders had been banking on the community’s support for public safety to help pass the proposed 0.25 percent increase, which would have bumped the county sales tax to 7 percent.
The county geared its entire campaign on the slogan “Say Yes to Safety,” and proponents pushed the need to buy new 800-megahertz emergency radios, upgrade 911 systems and improve jail security.
But many voters said Tuesday that they’ve had enough of tax increases and cited a distrust of how the government spends their money.
“I’m against anymore taxes,” Barberton resident Jimmie Collins, 61, said after he and his wife, Linda, 57, voted at the Barberton Church of God. “They’re taking every damn dime out of our pockets.”
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