Clerk of Council Gene Collier will not certify the “sufficiency and validity” of the tax petition to the Board of Elections.

The petition was circulated by Kellie Bartlett and was to amend the city’s tax laws to allow a credit toward New Carlisle income taxes for taxes paid to other jurisdictions.

If the initiative would have passed in the November election, New Carlisle would have lost a substantial source of revenue.

Collier relied on a legal opinion from the City’s Law Director and concerns expressed by the Board of Elections.

Law Director Lynette Dinkler, in her opinion to Collier, stated that the petitions were not filed in a timely manner. Petitions would have been due 15 days after the passage of the ordinance. It was passed in August, 2004.

Dinkler also stated that the petitions were not on a form prescribed by the Ohio Secretary of State. The Board of Elections also expressed the same concern.

The Board of Elections certified 157 valid signatures on the petition, 16 more than were required.

Dinkler stated that the petition was labelled an “Initiative Petition,” when it actually was a referendum challenging the tax ordinance.

The Board of Elections noted that Ohio Law requires that petitions must include a warning about election falsification. That warning was not on Bartlett’s petitions.