04.19.21 MEETING MINUTES - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council Monday, April 19, 2021 Page 15 There was none. ROLL CALL: AYES: All Motion Carried NAYS: None Resolution Adopted Resolution No. 2021-15, entitled, "An emergency resolution opposing Sub. House Bill 157 amending the law regarding withholding municipal earned income tax for those working virtually and/or at home." Introduced by Mayor Bodnar. (Administration). Mrs. Mills, seconded by Mr. Marquardt, made a motion to adopt Resolution No. 2021-15. Council President Schutt asked, discussion? Mayor Bodnar asked, Council President? I would like to address this if I may. Council should have received today a copy of Resolution, I have it marked on the resolution as 2021-13. 1 believe that may be the correct number. It's marked as 2021-15 on the agenda, but the actual resolution says 2021-13 and numerically I think that's correct. Anyways, you have before you a resolution having to do with Substitute House Bill 157. We talked about it a little bit earlier. We had originally the 20 -day rule and then when the emergency order went into effect with COVID, the legislature enacted House Bill 197 and that contained Section 29. Section 29 extended the 20 -day rule during the term of the emergency plus 30 days afterwards and that was in recognition that a lot of people would be working from home on a temporary basis but for a lot longer period than just 20 days. Many municipalities relied on that language in House Bill 197 in order to plan their budget and spend their money last year and even this year. So now Substitute House Bill 197 provides that employees who were working from home can apply for income tax refunds, basically going back as far as March of last year, so it is retroactive. It could have a devastating effect on many municipalities. It would have a serious effect on our budget. It could be devastating to many of Ohio's larger cities. I did write letters with the help of Diane Wolgamuth, our Director of Administration. I sent letters today to our Representative Phil Robinson and our Senator Matt Dolan. I also sent written testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee. This is set on very short notice for a hearing in Columbus tomorrow. In lieu of attending you can send written testimony so I have done that. I also have calls in to both Matt and Phil hoping that I can talk with them briefly before the hearing tomorrow, so it's imperative that we act on this as quickly as we can to let our legislature know how we feel about this. So I'm asking tonight that you pass Resolution 2021-13 opposing Substitute House Bill 157. I'd be glad to answer any questions if you have them. Council President Schutt asked, is there any discussion? Mrs. Mills asked, Mr. Schutt, since I presented the resolution as 2021-15, should we change that to 2021-13?