CANTON — Stark County voters renewed the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority’s 0.25% sales tax for another 10 years in the Nov. 3 general election, The unofficial count was 77,331 votes in favor to 64,893 against, with more than 54% of voters backing the renewal, according to results reported by The Repository from the Stark County Board of Elections.
The decision keeps the quarter-percent tax in place until at least 2037. Had it failed, the tax would have expired June 30, and the county sales tax rate would have dropped from 6.5% to 6.25%. The state of Ohio collects 5.75% of the current rate, the county’s criminal justice agencies receive 0.5%, and SARTA’s share makes up the remaining quarter-percent.
The stakes for the transit agency were unusually high. The sales tax generates about $20 million of SARTA’s roughly $36 million in annual revenue, and agency officials have long said the system would have to shut down without that money, The Repository reported. SARTA provides about 1.4 million rides a year across Stark County, carrying riders to jobs, medical appointments and schools across the county.
SARTA Chief Executive Officer Ralph Lee called the outcome a “great moment” for the agency and its roughly 200 employees in comments to The Repository, saying the vote was also a tribute to Stark County residents saying yes to public transportation. Voters interviewed by The Repository at a Perry Township polling place echoed that support, calling the bus service necessary for county residents. Lee told The Repository he had no time frame for another attempt at a tax increase and wanted to work with the revenue the agency has, while looking at ways to improve service without making specific commitments.
The renewal-only path was itself a strategic choice. In the May primary, about 51% of Stark County voters rejected SARTA’s request to raise the sales tax rate to 0.35%. Lee had argued the agency should try again for the increase in November, but SARTA’s board did not want to risk voters rejecting the measure and the agency losing its existing sales tax entirely, so it opted to ask only for a renewal of the current rate, according to The Repository.
Stark County voters first approved the 0.25% sales tax in 1997, when it funded the expansion of what was then the Canton Regional Transit Authority into a countywide agency. Voters have renewed the tax since then in five-year or 10-year increments, and Tuesday’s vote continues that pattern with another decade-long authorization.
The results remain unofficial until they are certified by the Stark County Board of Elections. With certification expected in the coming weeks, SARTA can now budget around a funding stream secure through at least 2037; any future rate increase would be a separate decision for its board and county voters.
Photo: Raymond Wambsgans, CC BY 2.0