2012-020 Resolution - Laserfiche WebLink

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ordinances, retention of individual municipalities' tax records, access to those records in a timely fashion; the timing and frequency of distribution of collected revenues to each municipality; collection of delinquencies; reporting of tax collection to each municipality; and the impact of the planned budget and staffing cuts that could make it impossible for the State Department of Taxation to perform new responsibilities of this magnitude; and WHEREAS, the City of North Olmsted, through RITA and its Finance Department, has the ability to access and contend with delinquent taxpayers on an individual basis with the possibility of providing concessions under certain circumstances, and if the collection of income taxes is centralized, the ability to work with individuals would be difficult, if not impossible; and WHEREAS, while RITA auditors make every effort to credit the correct municipality when payments are made without tax returns, the state's ability to offer such specific service is questionable at best, thereby raising the possibility that payments made without returns would be deposited into the unclaimed funds account for the state to claim after five years; and WHEREAS, the State of Ohio does not currently have the ability to administer municipal income tax collection and establishing such a labor intensive system to potentially recover the cost of collections, at best, would be contradictory to practices by the state over the past year to downsize its' workforce, privatize / outsource functions and eliminate certain functions altogether; and WHEREAS, income tax collection should not serve as a profit-maker for the state, especially if the collections and administration can be done at a lower cost by the local governments, and WHEREAS, in the wake of statewide reductions in the Local Government Fund, municipalities cannot afford another loss in revenue. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORTH OLMSTED, COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA AND STATE OF OHIO: SECTION 1: That the Council and the Administration of the City of North Olmsted do hereby declare their opposition to any effort on the part of the State of Ohio to centralize the collection of municipal income taxes at the state level; and SECTION 2: That this Council and the Administration of the City of North Olmsted strongly urge our elected State legislators to unequivocally reject and oppose any amendment to pending bills, or to the introduction of any new legislation proposing to transfer collection and/or control of municipal income taxes to the State of Ohio Department of Taxation, or any other State Department; and SECTION 3: That the Clerk of Council be and she is hereby directed to send a certified copy of this Resolution to State Senators Thomas Patton and Michael Skindell; State Representatives Nan Baker and Michael Foley; Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor and Governor John Kasich.