Cleveland Heights Mayor Supports American Jobs Act
Mayor Ed Kelley said the provisions in the bill would help decrease the city's 7.3 percent unemployment rate
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Cleveland Heights Mayor Ed Kelley said that legislators can’t waste any more time — Congress should pass the American Jobs Act.
He was one of 23 Ohio mayors who signed a letter the first week of October, urging state leaders to vote to pass the bill. Senate republicans prevented a portion of the act that would have, among other initiatives, retained jobs for firefighters, teachers and police officers from moving forward Oct. 11, according to a statement from President Barack Obama. The bill called for increasing taxes for people with more than $1 million in personal income.
Now the president is attempting to push another piece of the bill, which includes measures to help create jobs for construction workers to rehabilitate the country’s antiquated roads, bridges and schools, according to a CBS News report. To pay for the improvements, Americans who have more than $1 million of personal income would receive a tax increase of .7 percent.
“I signed right away,” Kelley said. “I think it’s important we support the American Jobs Act now … it’s something that’s been debated around now for a good month probably, and as every month goes by, the unemployment numbers aren’t getting much better.”
The unemployment rate in Ohio is equal to the national figures — 9.1 percent if not seasonally adjusted, according to the September numbers from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
Out of approximately 26,800 people in the labor force in Cleveland Heights, 2,000 are unemployed, or 7.3 percent as of August 2011, according to statistics from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. That number is down slightly from last year’s figure of 7.8 percent.
Kelley said the jobs act could help lower that rate of unemployment, and the city may get a specific construction project.
At the most recent City Council meeting, members passed a resolution to develop engineering plans for the Cedar Lee Business District streetscape improvement project.
“You hear a lot with the Obama plans that they want these projects ‘shovel-ready.’ By doing the engineering plans on Lee Road, the project will be shovel-ready," Kelley said.
Cleveland Heights lost about $1.5 million in income tax collections from 2008 to 2009, said Thomas Malone, the city’s finance director.
“That’s a 7 percent drop in income tax collections. Those are not pleasant signs. That’s a big decline,” he said.
In addition, the population dropped by 3,836 residents, or 7 percent, from 2000 to 2010, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. And the number of vacant housing units, which include owner-occupied and rentals, jumped to 11.2 percent in 2010 from 4 percent in 2000.
Though the city hasn’t completely recovered from those hits, the income tax collections increased slightly last year from $20,282,000 to $20,623,000, Malone said.
“It certainly was encouraging. We were worried in 2010. Did we stabilize? Did we turn the corner?” Malone said.
Other nearby mayors who signed the petition include Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leiken, Stow Mayor Karen Fritschel, Hudson Mayor William Currin and Parma Mayor Dean DePiero, among others.
Florian Schach
5:13 pm on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
As the President is traveling the country touting his Jobs Bill, he will need to come up with a few more talking points that do more than just paint the Republicans as the party of no. With Rick Perry releasing is plan today, and Ron Paul releasing his plan last week more can be debated about what the best plan of action is for the country. Especially since congress rejected the initial $35 Billion proposal .The issue(s) with each of the proposals however, is still the long terms strategy, the bill is the long term prospects, not its immediate “benefits” such as increased jobs in education and infrastructure. The administration has to work on what the bill is going to cost taxpayers, both within high and low earners. A recent study shows that about 50% of the income from top earners, would be how we pay for this jobs bill(http://eng.am/p1IF9I). Taxing higher earners may only affect a small number of people, but we still need those people to reinvest in business and create jobs to build a sustainable path to an economic recovery. Do you think that eventually if worked on, congress and the senate would be willing to pass the Jobs Act? If so what would they need to change?