City Council Asks County Commissioners To Delay Sales Tax Vote

Mentor City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night, asking the Lake County Commissioners to delay their planned vote that would increase the county's sales tax from 6.25 percent to 6.75 percent.

"In reviewing the proposed increase, we are concerned there may be a disproportionate impact on Mentor because of the large amount of retail in the city," Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said.

Ron Traub, the city's director of economic development, said 43 percent of the county's sales come from Mentor.

The Council unanimously passed a resolution that said, "There is concern that a significant increase in the sales tax rate will have a negative impact on sales volume with the city and county at large at a time when the local economy is beginning to recover, potentially resulting in job loss and reduced income tax revenue."

Of the current sales tax, 5.5 percent goes to the state, 0.25 goes to Laketran and 0.5 goes to Lake County.

An additional 0.5 bump would net $8.5 million for Lake County, Commissioner Dan Troy told The News-Herald. It would also bump Lake County over Ashtabula and Geauga's 6.5 percent sales tax.

Council members said they would like to know more about what the additional money would go toward and how the proposed sales tax would affect local businesses.

"Mentor's been a donor community on a lot of things," Ward 1 Councilman Robert Shiner said. "We can't continue to give, give, give because it's costing our residents."

Council President Scott Marn said Commissioner Ray Sines had asked to speak with Council, and they agreed to invite Sines and the other commissioners to their Feb. 7 meeting.

Kevin Malecek, , was at the City Council meeting Tuesday. He said he was unsure how an increased sales tax would affect local businesses.

"There's no doubt it's going to impact local vendors to a degree," he said. "The open question is 'How much?'"

Gerry Reis -- the senior vice president of , Mentor's largest employer -- was also at the meeting because Council with STERIS Tuesday.

Reis encouraged more discussion before passing any sales tax increase.

"I would urge all of us to have this discussion -- not just with citizens, but with corporations," Reis said.

Reis noted that some Mentor and Lake County businesses were not just competing with other counties but with other states.

"Competition is fierce out there," he said.