Avon Lake mayor pitches income tax hike for $48M road backlog amid pushback at town hall

AVON LAKE, Ohio (WOIO) -Facing an estimated $48 million backlog of crumbling roadways, Avon Lake city leaders met with residents Wednesday night to present their case for a proposed municipal income tax increase on the upcoming November ballot.

Issue 16 asks voters to approve an additional 0.40% income tax for six years. If passed, the city’s income tax rate would increase from 1.50% to 1.90% beginning Jan. 1, 2027, through Dec. 31, 2032.

City officials project the measure would generate roughly $6.6 million annually. By law, at least 70% of the funds must go directly to road repairs and resurfacing, while up to 30% can be used for storm sewers, drainage, traffic signals, and capital equipment.

Avon Lake’s current 1.5% income tax rate has remained unchanged since 1992. Mayor Mark Spaetzel explained that many city roadways built in the 1970s have reached a critical point after decades without a dedicated funding stream.

“Our backlog of work dates back multiple administrations, multiple councils,” Spaetzel said. “And while they try to keep up with that, we’ve never had a dedicated infrastructure fund, so we’ve had to pull money out of the General Fund to do that and that’s less effective than having a dedicated fund and so over time, that just builds. It gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse. But we’re to the point now where this backlog and we don’t expect our tax increase to take care of this backlog completely, but it’ll help and it will keep us at a place where we can maintain the roads better.”

A similar road funding issue was rejected by voters during the May primary, but Spaetzel said higher general election turnout and expanded public education could lead to a different outcome this fall.

The mayor warned that if Issue 16 fails, the city will face difficult budgetary trade-offs.

“We will not be able to address the infrastructure unless we pull additional money out of the General Fund,” Spaetzel said. “If we pull additional money out of the General Fund, that means other services have to be cut and that could be programming, it could be personnel, it just depends on how much we have to pull out.”

The 0.40% tax would apply to anyone who lives or works in Avon Lake. Spaetzel estimated that for a household earning a $100,000 salary, the tax increase amounts to approximately $400 a year.

To help soften the impact, the city plans to eliminate its existing $1.5 million property tax and repeal an income tax credit reduction passed by City Council earlier this summer.

However, during Wednesday night’s public comment period, some residents questioned the city’s overall operational spending and municipal staffing levels before turning to taxpayers.

One resident pushed back at the microphone, comparing Avon Lake’s budget to his previous community and suggesting the city explore privatizing or contracting out services to cut costs.

“Just to compare the costs, we had 27.5 city employees compared to 150 in Avon Lake. The salaries every year that were paid out for Wildwood (Missouri) were approximately $3.6 million. For the city of Avon Lake, little under 16 million,” the resident said. “City council and the mayor here $225,000, there $86,000, dramatically different for a much larger city who still got their roads fixed, their trash picked up, their roads were cleaned when it snowed, the recreation had far more than we offer here in Avon Lake And so I start to wonder, are we too big of a city and could we be contracting out a lot more services to save money so that we don’t have to continually tax those folks.”

Spaetzel defended the city’s workforce, pointing out that Avon Lake employees are protected by union contracts that legally prevent replacing municipal staff with private contractors.

“We have seven collective bargaining agreements in the city of Avon Lake,” Spaetzel responded. “Collective bargaining agreements are very particular about who’s going to do the work. We would be violating our collective bargaining agreements if we laid off people and contracted the services and almost guaranteed we would lose that argument in court.”

During the public question-and-answer session, residents expressed concern about the cumulative tax burden facing homeowners following recent countywide property reappraisals and voter-approved school levies.

“When all of these pieces come together, you’re asking your individual citizens to have to pay more next year and all likelihood, whether you like it or not, there’s a high likelihood that in the fall, the tax income may not go forward, and two, you will repeal on a new vote on a special election, and we’re going to be back to a situation where we’re going to have to get creative,” one resident said.

Spaetzel added the city’s operations, noting that Avon Lake is bound by seven union collective bargaining agreements that protect city services.

The meeting grew contentious when resident Gerald Phillips, a local CPA and tax attorney, stepped to the microphone to question why the city’s capital road allocations dropped from roughly $3 million to less than $500,000 in recent budget years.

“Was that because we had to rob Peter to pay Paul—take money from the roads to do the General Fund because of mismanagement?” Phillips pressed.

Mayor Spaetzel firmly pushed back against the accusation, explaining that City Council previously altered that funding structure and that operational costs—primarily personnel, which makes up more than 70% of the General Fund—have outpaced city revenues.

“It’s not mismanagement. It’s a lack of revenue,” Spaetzel responded, explaining that past administrations prioritized keeping day-to-day services running over capital projects. “You want your police officers to show up, you want your firefighters to show up, you want your streets cleared of ice and snow, you want your leaves picked up. That all comes at a cost. So, we funded those costs. Revenues did not go up so what takes a hit, unfortunately, in the past has been infrastructure improvements.”

The exchange escalated when Phillips attempted to cut back in to dispute the mayor’s remarks, claiming the administration was putting out “false statements.”

Avon Lake voters will decide on Issue 16 on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Ohio’s voter registration deadline is Oct. 5, with early in-person and absentee voting beginning shortly after at the Lorain County Board of Elections.

Residents who missed the meeting can watch a recorded livestream of the presentation on the city’s website and YouTube channel or learn more by clicking here.