Wilmington tax vote could be delayed

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WILMINGTON — A third and final vote on placing an earnings tax before Wilmington voters in November is expected to be delayed while an independent law firm reviews the ordinance.

Both the resolution placing the issue before voters and the ordinance spelling out the tax itself were “asked to go to another attorney for further review,” said finance chair Mark McKay at Wednesday night’s finance committee meeting.

“Basically, I thought we needed to have somebody who was a tax specialist take a look at it,” said President of Council Randy Riley. “This is one of those situations where if the ‘i’s’ aren’t dotted and the ‘t’s’ aren’t crossed, you can have someone come back and cry foul, and you don’t have a defense.”

Both pieces of legislation were on the agenda for Thursday night’s council meeting. Presumably, council would vote to postpone votes on the ordinance and resolution until council’s following meeting on July 14.

“This isn’t my preference or anybody’s preference,” said Mark McKay. “But given the choice of putting this through and it be incorrect and give someone the possibility of picking it apart later and waiting two weeks, I believe that we should wait the two weeks.”

Riley said he didn’t know whether Jeffrey A. Stankunas himself, or an attorney working for Stankunas, is doing the review. Stankunas is a partner of and heads Isaac Wiles’ Labor and Employment Law services.

McKay said the final cost of the review isn’t known, and Mayor John Stanforth said it was “irrelevant” due to its necessity.

Marian Miller, executive assistant to the mayor, said, “They were uncomfortable telling us to move forward.

“The city wants to ensure we’re providing good legislation to the voters that they can be confident that it’s correct,” Miller told the News Journal.

“There have been other municipalities that have tried to do levies … and if you have something wrong at the very beginning and it stays in there, then you’re really messed up,” Riley said at the finance committee meeting.

Committee member Kelsey Swindler was absent from the meeting.

Reach Nathan Kraatz at 937-382-2574, ext. 2510 or on Twitter @NathanKraatz.

Wilmington finance chair Mark McKay reads from his agenda at Wednesday evening’s meeting of the committee.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2016/06/web1_DSC_0389.jpgWilmington finance chair Mark McKay reads from his agenda at Wednesday evening’s meeting of the committee. Nathan Kraatz | Wilmington News Journal
Isaac Wiles law firm to review legislation

By Nathan Kraatz

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The committee also:

• Approved placing before council in July a $388 supplemental appropriation from the water fund to pay taxes.

• Approved placing before council in July a $1,000 transfer from the landfill vehicle fuel expense line to education and training to pay for re-issuing an accreditation, for staff to attend conferences on route automation and for Excel training.

• Approved placing before council in July a $487.50 transfer from consultant services to update codified ordinances to pay for a higher-than-estimated cost of updating the city’s ordinances to conform to changes to state law.

• Approved placing before council on Thursday a $400 transfer from operating expenses to corrections program expense, both within the community corrections fund. Additional info about the transfer is expected to be presented at Thursday’s council meeting.

• Approved placing before council on Thursday a $2,200 transfer from operating expenses to equipment, both within the community corrections fund. Additional info about the transfer is expected to be presented at Thursday’s council meeting.

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