Mayor Bell has proposed an 8 percent sports-and-events tax on admission tickets as part of his plan to close the budget deficit. If adopted by council, it would generate $1 million this year.

Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken told Toledo City Council yesterday that the county would seek an immediate temporary restraining order if the tax is approved.

Mr. Gerken said an analysis by the county prosecutor's office found that Toledo cannot legally impose a ticket tax on events held at county facilities such as Fifth Third Field or the Lucas County Arena.

"The county took the risk five years ago, without a whole lot of risk from the city," Mr. Gerken said. "They cannot compel us to collect [the tax] or to disburse it back to the city."

The analysis from the prosecutor's office was contained in an internal memorandum released yesterday. The analysis is advice to a client - in this case the county - and it does not rise to the level of a legal court opinion. The analysis also remains under review, the prosecutor's office said.

The mayor, who offered the admission tax along with several other controversial proposals to balance the budget, was undeterred despite the analysis.

"We are going to keep moving forward until we balance the $48 million deficit," Mr. Bell said after council reviewed the proposed tax yesterday and heard from Mr. Gerken.

Council could vote next week on the tax, along with an increase in the trash-collection fee to $15, eliminating the payroll tax credit for Toledoans who work outside the city, and pay cuts for city workers by declaring "exigent circumstances."

Council yesterday placed all of these items on its March 16 agenda.

The prosecutor's office analysis, done at the request of Mr. Gerken, president of the Lucas County Board of Commissioners, relies on a 1965 Ohio Supreme Court ruling that the Lake County village of Willoughby Hills, Ohio, in far northeastern Ohio, could not impose a 3 percent tax on greens fees for a golf course within the village owned by the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District.

"We do not find any statutory provision that authorizes a municipality to impose a collection and remittance of an excise tax upon a governmental agency," the high court held.

City Law Director Adam Loukx said the city would prevail in court against the county.

"The question here is whether or not the Walleye and Mud Hens are political subdivisions. Clearly, they are not," Mr. Loukx said.

Mr. Gerken disagreed.

"They're owned by a political subdivision - the county," he said last night, also noting that in Ohio, counties are a subdivision of the state.

Joe Napoli, president and general manager of the Mud Hens and Walleye, said he was pleased with the legal analysis from the county prosecutor's office.

"Lucas County has a lot at stake," Mr. Napoli said. "The net proceeds from the Mud Hens, the Walleye, the arena, and the convention center are dedicated to the mortgage on all three buildings and the short-term and long-term capital repairs and maintenance of all three buildings."

Mr. Napoli said the tax would actually mean a net loss for the city because of the damage it would have on downtown businesses.

"It's really disingenuous when it's being touted as only 80 cents on a $10 ticket," Mr. Napoli said yesterday, before a meeting with the mayor.

A newly formed coalition against the tax is made up of representatives from the Mud Hens, the Stranahan and Valentine theaters, Fifth Third Field, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Symphony, Toledo Opera, the arena, the Toledo Zoo, and Imagination Station.
The group met early Tuesday with The Blade's editorial board to discuss its concerns.

Steve Miller, general manager of the SeaGate Convention Centre and the Lucas County Arena, said the group's meeting with Mr. Bell was productive and he is still hopeful the tax won't be approved.

"We respect what the mayor is doing and he is generally a good guy and a proponent for Toledo," Mr. Miller said. "No promises were made, obviously, but it's simply about the economic impact of downtown Toledo."

He said the tax would reduce the number of people buying tickets to events at Fifth Third Field and the arena and negatively affect downtown business owners.

"Our job is to supply people to downtown Toledo and as we summed it up, if you can't help us, don't hurt us by implementing this tax," Mr. Miller said.

Although Mr. Napoli said the Mud Hens and Walleye would have almost no choice but to absorb the tax because it probably would translate into a drop in ticket sales - especially season tickets - others including the opera and Toledo Speedway said they would have to pass on the cost to ticket buyers.

Ron Drager, owner of the Toledo Speedway, said he reduced ticket prices to draw customers and the tax would have the opposite effect.

"Nobody in Toledo is going to benefit from a ticket that doesn't get sold, and we have a concern that people are watching their pennies as close as possible," Mr. Drager said. "We have cut our expenses as far back as they can be cut, so I have grave concerns about raising those ticket prices because I have to pass along that tax."

Additionally, Ward Whiting, executive director of the Stranahan Theater, said promoters could choose to book acts in other cities because the 8 percent tax could eat into their profits as well as affect ticket sales.

The Mud Hens have protested the proposed tax, which the ball club has called a "Family Ticket Tax," on its scoreboard. It displayed the words with a huge red X through the word tax and a message to contact the mayor and Toledo City Council.

Contact Ignazio Messina at:
imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171.

Rodney Dean Wahl, Sr., 39, pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder.
He is charged in the death of Jennifer Shively, 26, who was found Aug. 25 strangled to death and weighted down in an Ottawa County marina as well as the death of Ursula Graves, 42, who died Sept. 11 from a combination of alcohol and heroin. Judge Linda Jennings set a $5 million bond and scheduled a May 4 trial date. If convicted, Wahl faces up to life in prison. Wahl was charged March 4 with the crimes, nearly seven months after Ms. Shively's body was found. Authorities believe the two had gotten into an argument prior to Ms. Shively being killed and that Ms. Graves was killed a few weeks later because she was a potential witness in the case. According to court documents, Wahl released from prison in December, 2008 after spending three years behind bars on a robbery conviction. Prior to that, he was sentenced to four years in prison in 2002 after pleading guilty to four counts of attempted robbery and one count of failing to comply with the order of a police officer. He was arrested again in November for driving with a suspended license and was incarcerated at the time he was charged in the case.

The children were removed from the home of Michael and Sharen Gravelle by Huron County authorities in 2005. However, the Gravelle children’s attorney Jack Landskroner said the county and its Department of Children’s Services should have acted sooner in the case.
Huron County maintains it acted appropriately. Mr. Landskroner said the settlement is the first step in a series of lawsuits to be filed against various agencies and individuals who were responsible for placing the children in the Gravelles’ home and working with the family. One lawsuit which names Hamilton County among other entities is pending in United States District Court in Cleveland.

Electro Prime Group is an automotive supplier with a coatings plant in Rossford.

And in May, voters will decide whether to extend the Ohio Third Frontier program, a bond package that funds high-tech ventures and has contributed about $40 million to northwest Ohio projects since 2003.

But will those votes - in the General Assembly and at the polls - be enough to strengthen Ohio's global position in the solar industry in 2010?

Yesterday The Blade published its final installment in a three-day series that showed Toledo and other Ohio cities had lost out on solar manufacturing jobs for the last decade because of a failure by state officials to attract companies with tax incentives or create a viable market for solar panels.

Since 2007 alone, the year Newsweek magazine dubbed Toledo a solar "hot spot," thousands of those jobs have gone to states where companies were enticed by a mixture of tax credits, grants, and other incentives.

State leaders contacted by The Blade yesterday all said the removal of the property tax on solar companies and the renewal of Ohio's Third Frontier effort are crucial for economic development progress this year.

But some also said there was more state officials could do to boost Ohio's solar economy.

"We certainly need to do more," said Rep. Matt Szollosi (D., Oregon), the second-highest ranking member of the Ohio House. "These are the jobs of the future, and there are things the legislature can do to help."

Mr. Szollosi said a first order of business in the House should be to pass a bill that would eliminate the tangible personal property tax on solar manufacturing companies, and instead charge a flat fee of $7,000 per megawatt capacity.

The House bill is still in its drafting stages, but Mr. Szollosi said it would be co-sponsored by a Democrat (Roland Winburn, Dayton) and a Republican (Cliff Hite, Findlay).

Gov. Ted Strickland called for the utilities property tax to be eliminated in his State of the State address in January, and a similar bill has since been introduced in the Senate by state Sen. Chris Widener (R., Springfield).

Rep. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills) said he supports Mr. Widener's bill and will campaign for the renewal of the Third Frontier program, but said Ohio also needs to "think outside the box" to make the state as competitive as possible.

"You can give all the lip service you want to creating solar jobs," Mr. Wagoner said. "The time for action is now, and the proof will be in the pudding."

Mr. Wagoner called on the Strickland administration to be more open to "game-changing investments," such as the rejected proposal offered by local solar company executive Norm Johnston to cover 30 former industrial sites with solar panels, using state funding.

State Senate President Bill Harris (R., Ashland) said the state needs "to do a better job of telling Ohio's story," citing the state's capable work force, manufacturing history, and university research.

Mr. Harris also mentioned policy successes like the phasing out of the corporate franchise tax, the state's renewable energy standards established in 2008, and industry support efforts such as the Third Frontier Program.

"It would [also] be good to look at the potential for other incentives that could increase our competitive standing with other states for attracting renewable energy jobs in the future," Mr. Harris said.

Ohio does not offer tax credits specifically for solar manufacturers like those in Oregon, Michigan, and elsewhere. And no state supports the solar industry quite like California, which has a $3.2 billion incentives program to blanket the state with solar-generated electricity.

Rob Nichols, spokesman for Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, said that until state leaders "rethink everything and more effectively help businesses succeed, Ohio will continue to foolishly and needlessly suffer as we lose out on valuable jobs to our more economically competitive neighbors."

Amanda Wurst, Governor Strickland's spokesman, countered that while other states may offer "eye-popping" tax credits, Ohio "offers eye-popping tax cuts."

"Ohio has the lowest business taxes in the Midwest while many other states tax businesses in ways Ohio no longer does," she said.

"And that, along with the governor's call to eliminate the [tangible personal property] tax on solar companies … is a sure-fire way to fight the perception that Ohio is a tough state to do business in the solar industry."

Contact Joe Vardon at:
jvardon@theblade.com or 419-724-6559.

The 3-0 vote rejecting the new fee schedule appeared to be a foregone conclusion by the time commissioners heard a sampling of opinions from builders and contractors opposing it.

Commissioners' President Pete Gerken said the proposed increases and new fees were suggested by the county's administrative staff after the commissioners asked for ideas for making the building inspection service self-sufficient.

"In fairness to the departments that did the work, we accepted their report," Mr. Gerken said, explaining how it came to be the subject of two public hearings.

Kurt Miller, owner of Miller Diversified development company and chairman of the land development committee for the Toledo Home Builders Association, said the higher fees would be a disincentive to the already struggling construction industry.

"There are better alternatives, perhaps merging the building departments," Mr. Miller said. About 14 people in the audience stood to show support of Mr. Miller's comments.

The downturn in the economy has resulted in a dramatic reduction in construction activity, as well as a decline in fees for the county's building inspection office. Fees fell to $696,610 in 2009 from $958,371 in 2008.

Mr. Miller objected in particular to a proposed fee on new alternative-energy installations, saying that under the proposed fees, obtaining the necessary permits for a typical residential solar installation would cost about $700.

Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak said the county reached out to the administration of former Mayor Carty Finkbeiner four years ago about combining building inspection departments, but with little response.

Commissioner Ben Konop noted that merging building departments was suggested in the 83-page "21st Century Government" report he commissioned in 2007.

"I'm a little surprised the city hasn't been a little more aggressive on this. There are many other departments we should take a look at as well," Mr.
Konop said.

In 2008, the commissioners and the city of Toledo jointly commissioned a study by Steve Herwat, then a private consultant and now Mayor Mike Bell's deputy mayor for operations. That study recommended Lucas County absorb the city's building inspection division with savings for both entities.

Yesterday, Bill Brennan, commissioner for building inspection, said his office was sending Mayor Bell a tentative proposal under which the county's building office would close and its territory would be divided among Toledo, Maumee, and Oregon.

Contact Tom Troy at:
tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058.

The agency's chief executive, however, has not accepted responsibility for 10 similarly deteriorating roads nearby.

In a Feb. 23 letter to Sandusky County Engineer James Moyer, turnpike Executive Director L. George Distel pledged to hire an engineering firm to test soil samples from around the Jacobs Road overpass in Riley Township and to prepare construction plans and estimates.

Repair costs would be borne by the turnpike, "conditioned on approval by the OTC Board of Commissioners," Mr. Distel wrote.

But the letter specifies that turnpike-funded repairs for Jacobs would be "nonprecedent- setting" because the slope failures there appeared five years after the turnpike did embankment work when it replaced a bridge in 2000.

Mr. Distel said the turnpike's "request for proposals" for engineering firms to do the soil tests and other work will include an option for surveying 10 other problem embankments, but additional testing will depend on the availability of nonturnpike funding.

Mr. Moyer said the Jacobs promise is a start, and he's confident the turnpike commission will pay for the repairs, which he said have been estimated at $400,000.

"I'm grateful that they're at least doing that," the county engineer said yesterday. "And it'll be helpful to have the soil borings, so we really know what's going on" beneath the roadway.

But Mr. Moyer also hopes some sort of funding can be arranged to pay for testing the embankments at 10 other problem overpasses in Riley and Sandusky townships, including three county roads, whose conditions have become visibly worse just this winter.

Lauren Hakos, a turnpike spokesman, said that "it could be later this summer" that work on the Jacobs embankment begins, but a formal cost estimate hasn't been prepared and construction funding remains to be identified.

"They will try to do it this construction season, which is very exciting for the people up there," said state Sen. Karen Gillmor (R., Tiffin), who, along with State Rep. Jeff Wagner (R., Sycamore), sat in on a recent meeting of county and turnpike officials regarding the problem.

Hundreds of local roads cross the Ohio Turnpike along its 241-mile route across northern Ohio, and many of them - especially in the northwest Ohio flatlands - require embankments to ramp up on either side of their bridges.

But while turnpike construction in the early 1950s included building those embankments, toll-road officials have maintained for years that the agreements under which they were built made the local jurisdictions responsible for their upkeep, with the turnpike responsible only for the bridges themselves.

Local and county officials counter that without the bridges, the embankments wouldn't exist, so the turnpike should maintain the earthworks as well as the bridge structures.

An opinion in 1953 by C. William O'Neill, then Ohio's attorney general, is vague enough that both sides cite it for support.

Mr. O'Neill found that maintaining the pavement of local roads crossing the turnpike is a local responsibility, "but the structure by which such paved surface is supported is a part of [the turnpike] and its maintenance and repair is the responsibility of the turnpike commission."

Mr. Moyer has said the "structure" logically includes the embankments, which the turnpike denies.

The issue has arisen in Sandusky County because of the slope failures, which have not occurred elsewhere along the toll road. Besides Jacobs, other roads with slope problems at turnpike bridges are Carley, Yorktown, Shiets, Fangboner, Four Mile House, Gibbs, Township Line, Karbler, Werth, and Shannon.

Representative Wagner and Senator Gillmor both pledged to explore funding sources for studies and repairs beyond the Jacobs work.

"There could be money from the state, there could be from other places," Senator Gillmor said.

Mr. Wagner, who is sponsoring a bill that would make the turnpike explicitly responsible for the embankments' capital maintenance, said doing soil borings at the other bridges is "not big money."

Mr. Moyer and the Sandusky County commissioners, meanwhile, co-signed a letter to Gov. Ted Strickland asking him to meet with them to discuss the failing embankments.

"The potential of closing adjacent roads is a distinct possibility," they wrote. "This will compound the increased response time by emergency services."

Clyde Fire Chief Paul H. Fiser, whose fire district includes Riley Township, said the Jacobs closing three years ago lengthened response time to some addresses north of the turnpike by two minutes.

"The failing overpasses are becoming hazards to the local traveling public and when closed, as needed, become a hazard to the neighboring residents because emergency services are affected," Chief Fiser wrote in an Oct. 9 letter to the turnpike, co-signed by the Sandusky Township and Townsend fire chiefs.

Contact David Patch at:
dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.