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Dimensions of Community Conflict in Voting on Local Tax Proposals: Stadiums and School Funding

VOTING IN REFERENDA on tax increases provides citizens with an opportunity to express their frustration with government policies and to support projects that may benefit their communities or their own self-interest. In May 1998, voters in Toledo–Lucas County, Ohio, were faced with two such ballot propositions: (1) state Issue 2, a one-cent increase in the state sales tax to increase funding for public schools and provide property tax relief and (2) county Issue 9, a 35-month, quartercent sales tax increase (in Lucas County only) that would have raised $37 million for construction of a new downtown stadium for the Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball team and a water park at the county recreation center in suburban Maumee. Research on issue voting in local elections has suggested several explanatory models relating to self-interest, socioeconomic status, community conflict, and the “alienated voter.” Analysis of voting patterns in the Lucas County stadium and school tax referenda suggests a community conflict model: significant city-suburban differences influenced the stadium project, and significant racial differences affected the school funding reform proposal. Dimensions of Community Conflict in Voting on Local Tax Proposals: Stadiums and School Funding