THE MIDDLETOWN JOURNAL
Sunday, March 15, 1998

State Issue 2 challenge headed to high court
By Janet Tebben
Journal Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - A lawsuit challenging the legality of a May ballot issue to raise the tate sales tax will be heard by the Ohio Supreme Court, according to a journal entry filed Thursday.

Documents were ordered to be filed in the case by March 20. The court justices will rule on the issue after that date without a formal hearing, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer wrote in an court journal entry issued late Thursday afternoon.

David Zanotti and the Northeast Ohio Roundtable filed suit against the state regarding the tax issue, arguing that state officials relied on a never-before-used section of the Ohio Constitution to place a tax issue on the ballot. Attorney General Betty Montgomery said last month that the methods used by lawmakers were legal, but the Ohio Supreme Court agreed to review the case on Thursday.

Voters will be asked in May to approve a penny-per-dollar hike to the state sales tax to pay for schools. Rushing to meet an election filing deadline last month, state lawmakers approved the ballot issue using a section of the Ohio Constitution that addresses ballot issues for education. The section was a fallback for lawmakers who couldn’ t get enough votes to meet a deadline two weeks earlier for general Statewide election issues.

While the attorney general’ s office initially asked the Ohio Supreme Court to dismiss Zanotti’s case, a spokesman for Montgomery said state officials are glad the case will at least be heard by the court well before the May election.

"We’ve maintained all along that it’s extremely important that any challenge to state Issue 2 be settled long before voters go to the polls on May 5," said Christopher Davey, a spokesman for Montgomery.