Tax Levy 2027 - Repurposed. Not new!
Election season, with community forums and door-to door-conversations with candidates, provides an opportunity to hear what topics and public needs are the most pressing among constituents. Common themes emerging from the last elections in Kent included improving street conditions in residential neighborhoods, protecting public safety, and enhancing life safety services. New Council members brought those themes into Council Chambers and went to work with the staff over the last 2 years to analyze, research, and develop strategies to meet those community expectations.
In a series of public meetings, the Police Chief, Fire Chief, and Service Director presented service data to show the rising demand placed on existing staff, and shared reports documenting the rising cost of overtime on payroll -- and on employee morale, burnout and retention. Council had many questions and city staff returned for more rounds of public meetings focused on financial and staff capacity limits related to those high-priority services. In March 2026, staff presented the findings of the Financial & Staffing Capacity report that detailed the city’s most critical staffing needs in the context of the city’s staff and funding limitations.
The challenge identified in all that analysis was: how can Kent keep pace with rising resident service expectations, service costs, and competition from neighboring communities competing for the same employees, particularly police and fire employees? More specifically, how can Kent, with the second lowest median income and highest rate of poverty among peer cities, combined with some of the highest levels of service calls in the region, continue to be the community of choice to live and do business in northeast Ohio, yet still be affordable and price sensitive to all taxpayers? For months, City Council wrestled with how to fill a $1.2 to $2 million gap identified in staff shortages needing to be filled to keep pace with community expectations.
The lead funding option became the opportunity to repurpose existing taxes to pay for hiring more fire, police and a dedicated street repair crew. Here’s how that could work: In 2013 Kent voters approved a .25 income tax increase to pay for constructing the new police safety center. Those new funds could only be used to pay for the construction of the new building and related debt, and the building debt was scheduled to be paid off in 2038.
Investments in Kent’s economic recovery worked, generating higher than expected job and income tax growth which allows the debt for the police safety center to be paid off 10 years early, at the end of 2026. Paying off the debt for the police safety center early creates an opportunity to repurpose the .25 building income tax to be used to fund 3 new firefighters, 3 police officers, and create a new year-round street repair crew; while potentially providing seed money for new quality of life projects and programs – all for the same tax amount that residents are currently paying in income taxes.
In June 2026, City Council voted to ask voters to consider approving the repurposing of the income tax dollars on the November 2026 ballot. Review the Levy Informational Summary and share it with others.
