Council to Talk Tax for School Officers Thursday

The 0.25 percent income tax increase Mayor Sara Drew proposed in April to put police officers in Stow schools will have its first review by Stow City Council Thursday.

Council is scheduled to talk about the issue Thursday and the suggestion, which came from Drew and the Stow Safety Task Force, to put the tax increase on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The measure, if placed on the ballot by council and approved by voters, would generate between $1.6 million and $1.7 million annually based on the city's existing collections.

That money would be earmarked specifically for law enforcement spending to hire nine school resource officers. The measure likely would include some flexibility so money collected from the increase can be used to pay for personnel, equipment and training.

Right now, city officials project that it would cost between $1.3 million and $1.45 million annually to hire nine new police officers specifically to staff the school district's nine buildings full-time. The officers would become a specific schools division within the police department, but during breaks such as summer they would work on community wide policing efforts.

If approved by voters, the tax increase would raise Stow's income tax collection rate from 2 percent to 2.25 percent. The increase would not raise taxes on Stow residents who work outside the city in communities with the same 2.25 percent tax rate.

Stow residents who work in a community with a tax rate of 2.25 percent that shares reciprocity with Stow would be unaffected. 

Stow council is scheduled to start its committee meetings at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Stow City Hall.

If the proposed tax makes it out of committee it could be placed on the legislative agenda for ballot consideration during council's regular meeting, which is set to start at 7 p.m. Thursday.