MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon voters will decide whether Home Rule has run its course with a referendum on the November ballot.
A question on the ballot will ask if voters want to “return the power to raise local taxes only by a vote from the people approving said tax” and revoke the city’s Home Rule powers.
The question appears on the ballot after a group of citizens presented the city with a petition signed by more than 1,000 registered voters asking that the issue be placed on the ballot.
The city’s voters approved Home Rule authority in 1986, giving the city council certain powers, including the ability to impose specific taxes without consent of citizens.
That lack of consent is what stirred the group to bring the issue back to the voting public, who they say did not know they would lose the right to vote on tax increases when they approved Home Rule 26 years ago.
Home Rule “takes away the rights of voters to vote on taxes. We’re just being told our taxes will go up, not asked,” Steven Casper Sr., who helped organize the petition drive, said previously. “We want to return the right to raise local taxes back to the citizens.”
Backers of Home Rule, who have started a Keep Home Rule — Vote No initiative, argue the powers give the city more local control and money to pay for improvements.
More than 60 percent of the revenue collected through the city’s Home Rule taxes comes from people who live outside Mount Vernon, according to information provided by the Home Rule boosters.
Home Rule powers also give the city a powerful economic tool, Mount Vernon City Manager Ron Neibert said.
Getting rid of Home Rule “would have a very negative impact on the city’s ability to bring in new business and industry,” he said.
The Keep Home Rule initiative is hosting an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Rolland W. Lewis Community Building in Mount Vernon. The public is invited to attend. http://goo.gl/hUHXN
