COLUMBUS, Ohio – The two sides in the debate over a tax to support the Columbus Zoo are battling like cats and dogs and the next rounds will be fought on the airwaves and before the Ohio Elections Council.
Supporters of the levy request on the May 6 ballot are fighting back against claims made by an out-of-state political group funded by two well-known billionaire conservatives usually associated with nationally-prominent campaigns.
It directly addresses the literature mailed out to voters and tells viewers not to “believe the lies of special interest groups.”
The Committee for the 2014 Columbus Zoo Levy has begun airing a TV commercial which disputes the claims in the mailer sent out by Americans for Prosperity, an Arlington, Va.-based organization funded by David and Charles Koch.
Phil Pikelny, chairman of the Columbus Zoo Board, has also filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission, charging the AFP mailer makes “blatant false claims” in the mailer, which states that approval of the levy would cause Franklin County property taxes to increase 105 percent, according to a release from the committee.
The complaint includes the local organization, Citizens for Responsible Taxation, which opposes the levy but which says it had nothing to do with the mailer or any knowledge of it.
Levy supporters say the levy increase would cost the owner of a $100,000 home in Franklin County an additional $1.68 a month, an increase only in the portion of the county’s property tax collected for the zoo.
Citizens for Responsible Taxation has said the increase represents a 66-percent increase in the zoo portion of the total property tax.
The 1.25-mill continuing levy would replace the 0.75-mill 10-year levy which expires next year.