CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Chillicothe voters rejected both income tax proposals on the Nov. 3 ballot, turning down a school district income tax and a city income tax for street repairs in unofficial results from the Ross County Board of Elections.
The city measure — a 0.2% income tax levy dedicated to street paving, repairs and improvements — failed with 3,191 votes in favor and 4,258 against, according to the unofficial results reported by the Chillicothe Gazette. The Chillicothe City School District’s proposed income tax failed by a similar margin, 4,178 votes against to 3,244 in favor, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian’s county-by-county results.
The twin rejections leave both the city and the school district to fund their needs from existing revenue. For the city, that means street paving and repairs continue to compete with every other line in the budget rather than drawing on the dedicated income tax stream voters were asked to approve. For the district, the failed income tax closes off the new revenue source it had put before voters this fall.
The Chillicothe results fit the Scioto Valley’s broader Election Day pattern: voters across the region’s counties backed Republicans in the statewide races by wide margins while rejecting a string of local tax issues, even as Democrats Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown won the governor’s race and the U.S. Senate seat statewide, according to the Guardian’s regional reporting.
City and school officials have not yet announced what comes next — whether either proposal returns to voters in revised form at a future election, or whether the city and district instead present scaled-back plans within current budgets. Those decisions will play out at Chillicothe City Council and school board meetings in the weeks ahead.
All results remain unofficial until the Ross County Board of Elections completes its canvass and certifies the election later this month.