City Council Discusses Mandatory Income Tax Filing

The Finance Committee of Marion City Council discussed several financial issues at their meeting Tuesday evening, including the first nine days of the 2012 budget, the amount of funds paid out to laid off City police officers, mandatory income tax filing, and pension pick up payments for firefighters and City Council.

Committee chair Ralph Cumston said they would be gathering information and holding discussions over the next two months regarding mandatory income tax filing. Currently, you only have to file if you actually owe income tax to the City of Marion.

Cumston said he believes that most cities around Marion and Ohio have mandatory filing. He said that while the change would not mean an increase in the income tax rate, it’s expected that the change would increase the amount of income tax the City collects.

Dale Osborn, a Finance Committee member, and Mayor Scott Schertzer both said they were in support of the idea at this point. The mayor said that it’s important that Council is looking at the issue now since any change would not start until 2013.

The third committee member, Josh Daniels, said he’s in favor of everyone who owes income tax actually paying, but has concerns that the change may cause more expenses for Marion residents. Schertzer said that he doesn’t believe the one sheet form would mean higher fees from accountants and tax preparers, but that it was something which could be looked into.

The Finance Committee also held their monthly budget review. Since the review only covered the first nine days of the year, it was agreed that not much could be read into the report. Cumston said the review in February will be more telling.

Mayor Schertzer told the committee that he and the auditor have a standing meeting every other week to review the budget. He said they met often last year, but the meetings will now be more regular.

Marion Police Chief Tom Bell was asked how much had to be paid out to the officers that were laid off at the beginning of the year. Bell said $216,000 was the “ballpark” figure. The payouts would have included the amount of vacation, sick leave, and comp time the officers had built up. Cumston said those payouts are part of the reason the cuts had to be so deep, but that it would make it make it easier to bring back officers when the budget allows.

The only measure voted on by the Finance Committee was a resolution restating the pension pickup amount paid by the City’s fire department personnel. Last year the portion paid for by the City’s firefighters was raised to 4 percent. The change voted on Tuesday would increase that portion to 5 percent. This increase was already agreed to by the union representing the firefighters. The measure will be discussed by the full City Council at their next meeting.

Along the lines of the firefighters, Dale Osborn suggested that Council should pass a resolution that would increase the pension pick up paid for by Council members. Osborn said the increase would equal the amount of money the Council early said they would voluntarily pay back to the City this year.

Cumston said that was a good idea, but rather than pass a binding resolution, suggested he would get the Auditor’s Office to send Council a form and each Council member could decide if they wanted to participate.