Police Chief: Consider Voting ‘Yes’ on County Sales Tax Increase

The Stark County Jail may not be able to take on more inmates from North Canton if Issue 29 doesn’t pass, said at Monday night’s City Council meeting.

The jail could go from 501 beds to 122, meaning many people who should be jailed might not be.

“When we have a violent offender, there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to book that person into jail,” Wilder said. “We’re summonsing people as much as possible because of the jail population rate.”

North Canton City Council members drafted a resolution of support to be sent to the Stark County Commissioners. In it, members say they support Issue 29 because of the decreased revenue in county government and more expected cuts to the jail, courts and prosecutor’s office.

They said the sales tax rate in Stark County is 5.75 percent, while 5.5 percent goes to the state and .25 percent goes to Stark Area Regional Transit Authority. That means none goes to Stark County government.

If Issue 29 passed, Stark County still would have the lowest sales tax rate in Ohio.

All members signed the resolution of support but , who was absent.

said the sales tax increase would benefit more than criminal justice services; it could be used for road improvements and other services all country residents benefit from.

“I certainly support this because if we let the county go down, it absolutely will affect us,” he said.