http://clevelandcause.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f?format=rss Tribe.net. Local Connections http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#af81b999-5c69-40b9-88d1-e12995805f3c It's clear North East Ohio regional community and business leaders are looking at restructuring economic development from a regional focus - restructuring government alignment that way, as well. All done right, this is a good strategy, certainly necessary. During the transition it is critical that "Cleveland" does not get slighted and neglected - the city is already under a budget crunch and having to eliminate important services, and needs to make major investments in infrastructure and human resources and quality of life improvements. Cleveland needs new economy and jobs in the city, so there must continue to be a separate, proactive, integrated, whole hearted push for Cleveland's economic development, in unison with the regional (and state) efforts. With great leadership at the local and regional levels, all the strategies being discussed make good sense. The leaders for Cleveland for this are Tim Mueller and Tim Moran, and my observation is they are entrepreneurial, receptive, and effective, so the city's new economy opportunity is in good hands... Tim Moran is listed in the contacts above if you have an initiative to develop in Cleveland. What are your thoughts on this? Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:09:04 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#af81b999-5c69-40b9-88d1-e12995805f3c Norm 2004-01-20T12:09:04Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#283235e0-07d2-4d0a-af06-41cc14332412 From 01/19/04 Crain's - abstract is available on-line, but you must subscribe to see the whole article - if you do, let me know more about what is says, and share your thoughts on this in reply. From Crian's Call for gov't overhaul gains volume By JAY MILLER Talk of streamlining government in Northeast Ohio is erupting almost spontaneously, highlighting a growing frustration over the lack of a focused economic development strategy in the region. Link to abstract: http://crainscleveland.com/article.cms?articleId=36841 Tue, 20 Jan 2004 12:12:46 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#283235e0-07d2-4d0a-af06-41cc14332412 Norm 2004-01-20T12:12:46Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#c67fd962-1f77-4fa0-bfc6-069fbc085501 I have recently been recruited by companies in NYC and Seattle. My own built in sterotypes questioned why I would move to such high tax regions. Only, what I discovered was that our region's taxes aren't really that much lower. In many cases, our region's taxes are substantially higher. Although I am certainly not a tax expertt, here are my tax notes (gathered from the web and various real estate agents): Tax Type Jurisdiction Rate State Income Tax Ohio .7% - 7.5% (100k is 6.9%) Washington State 0% New York State 4% - 6.85 (100k is 6.85%) -- Conclusion, I would pay about the same state tax in New York as I do in Ohio. However, if I moved to Seattle, I would save a substantial amount on state income taxes (because Washington has a "zero rate" state income tax). Sales Tax OH/Cleveland 6% - 8% (8% in Cleve & Cuy) WA/Seattle 6.5% - 8.9% (8.8% in Seattle) NY/NYC 4% - 8.5% (8.5% in NYC) -- Conclusion, I would pay roughly the same sales tax in Seattle and New York. And I save a very small amount in Cleveland (between 0.5% and 0.8%). This is roughly the same to me. As a side note, I understand that a fair number of people in Seattle purchase their goods in Oregon, which has a 0% sales tax rate. And, a fair number of Clevelanders shop in Pennsyvania for clothing, which has a 0% sales tax rate on clothing. All three states have enacted "use taxes" to recapture lost sales taxes on internet purchases. City Income Tax Cleveland 2% (.5% credit avail) NYC ~3.6% Seattle 0% -- Conclusion, I would pay significantly less in Seattle than either Cleveland or NYC. I would save some local income tax by staying in Cleveland, versus living in NYC. I do note that local income tax rates in Ohio vary substantially with the community (most communities in Geauga, Medina, Portage, etc. have a 0% local income tax rate). Property Taxes OH/Cleveland 1.5% - 3% WA/Seattle .8% - 1.5% (1.1% in Seattle) NY/NYC 1.45% -- Conclusion. First property taxes are the most difficult to cross compare because of the large number of taxing jurisdictions. And, property tax rates are measured in millage and not percentages. But, they can be converted to percentage of property value. My rough estimate is that property taxes are a lot lower in Washington and somewhat lower in New York City than in Ohio. Of course, I do note that the home values in Seattle and New York are generally higher than in Ohio, so if the house was more expensive, the amount paid would be more. ** Note, federal tax, social security tax, medicare/medicade taxes are the same in each jurisdiction. Overall conclusion, it would seem that Ohio's tax rates are not as low as most claim. High tax rates tend to limit growth and investment. Tue, 20 Jan 2004 15:58:21 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#c67fd962-1f77-4fa0-bfc6-069fbc085501 Jason 2004-01-20T15:58:21Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#8f11afa9-105b-4f75-bcda-79c4357cfa7c An interesting take on the issue in this week's Free Times: The Mayor of Cuyahoga County Let's face facts: it will be generations, if ever, that the nearly 60 communities in Cuyahoga County would ever agree to absorbed by the city of Cleveland. Just won't happen. But the next best thing to help improve the quality of government, use of our tax dollars and ability to accomplish big projects is to change our form of county government. That's why Cuyahoga County should convert from a county commissioner-style of government to a county executive system. Call it having a “Mayor of Cuyahoga County.” It is noteworthy that the leadership of the Cuyahoga County Republic Party put forth a very similar idea just a few days ago... See Free Times article: http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=843 Wed, 21 Jan 2004 07:23:12 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#8f11afa9-105b-4f75-bcda-79c4357cfa7c Norm 2004-01-21T07:23:12Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#428ac64d-a749-44dd-8b88-e4f263ea35ae Big article in the PD today about this issue - pipe dream but it is where the area business community is placing its bets. We'll see merged efforts going forward, which is positive. Perhaps some of the inner ring suburbs could merge with Cleveland to form a stronger mass - E.Cleveland and further East. Although it would probably be better for them to merge with Cleveland heights and for that to become a more powerful economic entity. The PD article is at http://www.cleveland.com/region/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1075028130163470.xml An opinion by the editor of the PD is at http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/doug_clifton/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1075028108163470.xml He came to the PD a few years ago, from the Miami Herald, and has done much to improve the newspaper - here is his stance on this issue and the PD: In short, in ever wider circles, the concept of regional government is talked about not in timid whispers, but robustly and in the glare of day. Plain Dealer editors and reporters have been discussing the issue as well. We've decided that our role in the emerging communitywide conversation should be to provide information, analysis and commentary from all perspectives. Today starts a yearlong effort to keep you apprised of what will no doubt become one of the most intensely debated issues the region has faced in decades. For the past two years, we have documented Cleveland's Quiet Crisis and the various efforts to counter it. The discussion of a regional approach to governing is an outgrowth of the series. We hope a clear-headed debate over the need for governmental change will be helped along by the work we do. Today's installment sets the table for further discussion. It defines terms and outlines what's been done elsewhere. Future installments will tabulate the cost of running 59 political subdivisions, 33 school districts and 13 municipal courts. Etc., Read the article and comment here... Sun, 25 Jan 2004 21:20:54 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#428ac64d-a749-44dd-8b88-e4f263ea35ae Norm 2004-01-25T21:20:54Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#69f1bd38-969a-491e-9b11-611736a008b0 An article from Jan 05, 04 Crains Business On Line, about Team NEO, says this was formed as a result of a McKinsey study suggesting a more regional economic development focus - the formal, documented root of this movement: Team NEO: http://www.teamneo.org Attitude essential to Team NEO boss By JAY MILLER "We need to walk taller," says Robert Farley, setting a tone for the regional economic development umbrella organization - Team Northeast Ohio - he is creating. "A lot of this is attitude," he said. The antithesis of the slick salesman, the balding, 52-year-old Mr. Farley nonetheless sees his job as creating and selling a new, unapologetic image of the region that will convince corporate executives to chose the area for their next expansion. "We've got to embrace our weather," he said, pushing a regional hot button as the temperature was dipping in late December and snow was in the forecast. "It's not as cold as Minneapolis-St. Paul, nor is the winter as long - and that's an attractive community." Team NEO was unveiled more than a year ago in response to a McKinsey & Co. study of the region's economic development efforts. That study suggested adopting a structure that has succeeded elsewhere of creating an organization that will enhance cooperation among existing economic development efforts and will create a unified marketing push for a 13-county region that stretches from Lorain to Ashtabula and from Canton to Youngstown. Mr. Farley became Team NEO's president Nov. 1. http://crainscleveland.com/article.cms?articleId=36787 Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:08:22 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#69f1bd38-969a-491e-9b11-611736a008b0 Norm 2004-01-26T22:08:22Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#a3b2fbc1-79f9-4182-ae07-b7557b496800 During an interview with CoolCleveland Editor Thomas Mulready, Mayor Jane Campell offered some opinions on regionalization - she's clearly focused on Cleveland as the hub of the region... See interview at: http://www.pulsarmail.com/show_article.php?p=21P0E474R0345N36H&r=108363 Many people have suggested that we need more of a regional approach in order to be competitive in the new global economy. Talk about how you see Cleveland working with other municipalities in the region in a more regional manner. "Cleveland works with other communities on a regular basis. The experience with regionalism has been really taking assets that are really Cleveland's and giving them to the region, and you end up with less services to Cleveland. If you take the bus system, you take the Cleveland Transit System and turn it into the RTA, and you get less service for Cleveland. Now the current crowd at RTA has been very helpful. The interesting thing, if you listen to the regional folks, they don't want to regionalize the school system, for example. If we had a regional school system, and every child had an opportunity to have the same quality of education, that would be a very interesting concept." It seems that the city would benefit from a regional approach, since there's more growth in the suburbs, that's where a lot of the investment is happening. Some people feel that the suburbs have a good reason not to think on a regional basis because they feel there's this donut hole, which would suck resources into the city. "Take this conversation that we've been having about Homeland Security; instead of being given to the city directly, it is given to the State, and then to the County. They identified 20 targets, 18 of which were in the city, but the county then gave the money to every community. Now, this just doesn't make any sense. Eventually we were able to negotiate 50% of the money, but we have 85% of the targets. For all the challenges we have in Cleveland, we still have some of the best services in the city. When you see the fire in Garfield Heights, the city of Cleveland responded quickly. We had our trucks there. If there's a catastrophe, at the end of the day, you want the best equipment and the best trained folks. Now we call on the suburbs, you take the Case Western [Reserve University] shooter, we used our swat team, and after hours and hours, Euclid brought their swat team which was smaller than ours, but they were there and helped us with the FBI, and ultimately 93 people got out without being injured. The leadership came from the Cleveland police. When you really think what's best for the region, we should talk about what works for the region. I think what works for the region is for the core community to be very strong and to have resources to share with the region, and for the suburbs to be strong and willing to share. If you look at our water system, we serve 1.5 million people and 72 communities beyond Cuyahoga County, it's the 8th largest in the country. Because it is a large and well capitalized system, when we faced the blackout, we had water restored much more quickly than they did in Detroit, however we had uphill battles, really uphill, in every way it was uphill! At the end of the blackout, we had the Water Commissioners look at what happened, and how could we protect against it next time. We are taking a proposal to build an electrical backup system to our water system. We're taking this proposal to Cleveland City council on Feb 2 to pass it by April." Many of the suburban Mayors have been getting together to discuss "Meeting Regional Needs Through Cooperation and Common Action." Are you interested in participating in these discussions, and why was the City not represented at the most recent meeting on January 15? "We have a rep who works with Mayors & Managers Association who had been quite ill, Eric Janus. We know that when people say where they come from, they say Cleveland. The best ways to make the region strong is to make Cleveland strong. If people want to work with us, that's great." Some people have expressed surprise that the Mayor's office and the Commissioners haven't been able to work more closely together, especially considering you used to be a Commissioner. Why do you think that is? "We actually work more closely together than people think. We just sent in an application to EPA for brownfields. If the city or county did it on the own, it would be for $1 million each, but we could do it together for $3 million, and the city gets 1.5 million, and the county gets $1.5 million. The successful implementation of the Cleveland division of water serves 1.5 million customers, and we're now discussing delivering water to Aurora; we have good infrastructure, good pumps, and it's a national security issue, its easier to do on a larger scale. And we have the success of the airport, for the first time Cleveland is not at risk for losing their hub." Wed, 28 Jan 2004 09:49:48 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#a3b2fbc1-79f9-4182-ae07-b7557b496800 Norm 2004-01-28T09:49:48Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#c21f64bf-894d-4da4-8246-a6dbad5ec224 NEO Barometer Survey Finds Northeast Ohioans Ready for Regional Approach to Economic Development 02.06.2004 - A recent poll of residents from Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Stark and Summit counties shows that residents believe regionalism has an important role to play in Northeast Ohio. The poll measured perceptions of the region's general economic health and progress as well as opinions on regionalism and economic development initiatives. The strongest support for a regional approach was in the areas of promoting tourism (by a 15-point margin), developing a plan for economic growth (by a 15-point margin), and attracting businesses to the area (by an eight-point margin). For more results, download the complete report. http://www.clevelandfoundation.org/images/NEOBarometerreport1.pdf Tue, 10 Feb 2004 01:31:02 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#c21f64bf-894d-4da4-8246-a6dbad5ec224 Norm 2004-02-10T01:31:02Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#b4430097-00a3-4a8d-b1a7-df957c23432a The real problem with this thinking is several fold: 1) People elect not to live in Cleveland because the taxes are so high and services are basically terrible. 2) Taxes are generally 1/2 as much in the suburbs, particularly suburbs in rural counties (Medina, Geauga, etc.). And, even urban counties (like Summit) have a substantially lower tax burden. So, growth is where taxes are much lower. It would be an absolute disaster if somehow high taxes, through a regional government, reached into the far suburbs. Such a situation would drive the population who fled the combination of high taxes and poor services to other regions entirely. The real answer must be to substantially decrease taxes (all forms, all levels) by at least 1/2. Sales Taxes, Use Taxes, Property Taxes, local income taxes, license/permit taxes, unemployment taxes, etc., are all too high. And, as my back of the napkin analysis shows, moving to Seattle or NYC would lower my tax burden from (or at least it would be the same as) Cleveland. Tue, 17 Feb 2004 00:44:28 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#b4430097-00a3-4a8d-b1a7-df957c23432a Jason 2004-02-17T00:44:28Z http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#383f01d9-7304-4ccf-9d5b-ae6283f44b91 During a quick trip to Columbus (for my own company), the discussion in the car was about regionalism. One of the folks in the car suggested that if the 66 cities within Cuyahoga County consolidated into Cleveland, Cleveland would be the 5th or 6th largest city in the country. My question: Why would you want to do that? Their answer: Because Cleveland proper is currently less than 500,000 people, it no longer qualifies for federal subsidies. I return to my point in previous posts. Borders matter. People left one community for an environment that was better. Why take the bad environment (high tax, low service) and export it to the 66 other suburbs? If anything, perhaps the low tax suburbs should merge and create an "Outer Cleveland" ... Just my two cents... Tue, 17 Feb 2004 00:49:56 GMT http://ClevelandCAUSE.tribe.net/thread/ef118354-8294-4a1e-a332-6f31eaa4121f#383f01d9-7304-4ccf-9d5b-ae6283f44b91 Jason 2004-02-17T00:49:56Z