DEFIANCE VOTERS FACING SEVERAL ISSUES

Sev­eral new issues will be on the bal­lot for vot­ers in Defi­ance County on Tues­day.

One is a 0.3 per­cent per­ma­nent income tax increase request for police and fire ser­vices.

If approved, the tax increase would gen­er­ate approx­i­mately $1.4 mil­lion annu­ally, and could only be used for police and fire expenses. This would also take pres­sure off the city’s gen­eral fund which is used to oper­ate many munic­i­pal func­tions.

Approval would increase the city’s income tax rate from 1.5 per­cent to 1.8 per­cent.

Also on the bal­lot in Defi­ance is an issue filed by per­sons opposed to con­sti­tu­tional pro­tec­tions for cor­po­ra­tions where polit­i­cal cam­paigns are con­cerned.

If approved, it would make new require­ments upon the mayor and Defi­ance City Coun­cil, such as host­ing a pub­lic meet­ing every two years to dis­cuss “the impact of money on the demo­c­ra­tic process.”