Residents: Issue 1 Promises Not Being Met

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Those who work in Columbus should expect a leaner paycheck as the city’s income-tax increase took effect Thursday.

NBC 4 GOT ANSWERS on how your money is being spent.

The income-tax hike went into effect Thursday, Oct. 1.

In August, voters said yes to a half-percent income-tax increase.

Residents voted to increase the tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.

Now some tax hike supporters are arguing Mayor Michael Coleman used false advertising in his campaign.

Jennifer Adair is the president of the Northwest Civic Association. She said she and residents expected free yard-waste pick up to start when the tax hike started.

“People are frustrated because they expected the city to share all of the details to make sure the entire truth was known about what Issue 1 was and what services were and were not going to come back,“ Adair said.

According to the mayor’s spokesperson, the City of Columbus made it clear that additional revenue from the income tax this year would go towards the budget deficit and not towards restoring programs.

He also pointed out the city has to honor the one-year contract it has with Rumpke. He added residents already have paid for the service.

Adair argued the city told residents it only had a six-month contract with Rumpke. She said she wants the city to renegotiate the one-year deal.

The mayor’s spokesperson said the yard-waste removal program will start back up next spring.

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