Tt post jun 16, 2017

quote=212365

The illegal refuse fee tax that Toledo initiated in 2007 was made possible by the four republicans on Toledo city council.

Voting FOR the new illegal city tax :

• Joe Birmingham - (R)
• Rob Ludeman - (R)
• Betty Shultz - (R) *
• George Sarantou - (R)
• Mark Sobczak
• Wilma Brown
• Phil Copeland

Voting AGAINST the new illegal city tax :

• Michael Ashford
• Mike Craig
• Ellen Grachek
• Joe McNamara
• Frank Szollosi

The illegal tax was not and has never been a separate council vote. It's not an ordinance nor an issue nor anything that requires a separate council vote. It's not voted upon by anyone.

The illegal refuse fee simply exists as a revenue item in the budget. The vote above was to approve the 2007 budget. I inferred that voting for the budget meant voting for the illegal tax, which was a hot topic at the time, and the reason why other council people voted against the 2007 budget.

At one time, Shultz was a democrat, but she switched party affiliations, and she was a republican when she voted in 2007.

Allegedly, the republicans made a shady, backroom deal with then-mayor Carty to get the illegal tax implemented.

You can forget the notion that republicans and the squishy-named independents are any different than democrats at the local level. It has been a long-running myth that republicans favor a smaller, financially-responsible government.

From the 2007 Blade story

Initial efforts focused on the attempt by five A-team Democrats and Republican Joe Birmingham to defeat the trash fee by finding $3.8 million in savings.

In other words, do their jobs by trimming the budget. But nope.

The breakthrough was achieved after two days of deadlock when Mr. Birmingham agreed to support the [illegal] trash fee ...

Mr. Birmingham said he accepted the trash fee because the budget had been cut as much as possible.

Cut as much as possible? Never. That's a lie.

Ludeman is still on Toledo city council after 50 years. And Sarantou is some kind of finance hack for the city. In 2008 or 2009, Sarantou said the illegal refuse fee must continue because the city became too dependent upon the revenue.

It's a scary to think that Sarantou is still involved with Toledo's finances.