Marietta Voters Reject School District Income Tax Levy

MARIETTA, OH — The primary results are in for Washington County. Director of the Washington County Board of Elections Mandy Amos said the election went great. “Everything went as planned, everyone’s votes got in as planned.” She and her team were really pleased with how smoothly everything went.

Live in Marietta? Click here to subscribe to our free breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices. Follow Marietta Patch on Facebook and Twitter, and download our free Patch mobile app on Android or iPhone.

It was a very low turnout with only 13.4% of 24,766 registered voters casting a ballot this time. Amos said this was to be expected. “For this type of primary where we don’t have the whole county voting, it’s usually pretty light.” The big upset was the Marietta City School District income tax levy failing.

She said she wasn’t sure why the school income tax levy failed. “That kind of levy hasn’t been done that much around here.” Amos speculated that it could be that people don’t like the idea of having their income taxed more. Whatever the reason, Marietta voters were clear, they don’t want it. More than 1,500 votes were cast against the levy, while less than 700 were cast for it.

Treasurer of the Marietta City School District Frank Antill said the levy for ¾ of a percent would have generated $3,000,000 a year once it was completely phased in. The funds would have gone toward making salary benefits more competitive in the county. He said new levies of any kind are hard to pass in this environment. The school district is going to explore what they’re going to do about not getting this funding in their May school board meeting. “We will discuss with the board what we want to do, whether we want to put it back on in the fall, or do something different.” If they decide to try again, they’ll have to pass a number of resolutions this summer if they want to get it on the November ballot.

Antill says if they do get it back on the ballot, they’ll make more efforts to persuade voters. They’ll try to better educate the public on how much this levy will help local schools. But ultimately, they have to deal with the big question here, the why. “We have to do a little more homework on exactly why such a high percentage of people voted against it versus for it.”

There were a number of other issues decided yesterday. A couple of liquor options were approved by Belpre voters. On the primary side, Tina Nolan will be on the Republican ticket for Belpre City auditor. David Ferguson and Larry Martin will be on the Republican ticket for Member of Council at Large for Belpre City. All fire levies were approved. They were passed for Belpre Township, Decatur Township, East Muskingum, and Marietta Township.

Election Day is November 2nd. Amos said it’s better to get registered for it soon. “You have until 30-days before the election to get that done.” There will be a number of trustees on the November ballot, as well as school board members, board of education seats, and a number of village offices.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Marietta Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of our latest sponsors? Email any and all inquiries to me at christopher.schmitt@patch.com.