ELYRIA — Historically speaking, Elyria city leaders have had little luck passing a permanent income tax increase.

But come Nov. 3, Elyria voters will be asked to do just that for Issue 10, a 0.5 percent permanent income tax increase that will raise approximately $5.5 million per year.

The money is being sought to offset a $4.3 million deficit projected for 2010.

While this is the first general fund income tax increase proposed in 25 years, its passage would push Elyria’s income tax rate to 2.25 percent, a level above many other cities in the state.

Still, Mayor Bill Grace said now is the time to increase the income tax rate as the city has been unable to keep up with declining revenue brought about by the current national and state economy.

“We decided to go for a 0.5 percent increase because a smaller increase like a 0.25 percent increase would generate only about $2.3 or $2.4 million a year and that would not be enough to cover the projected deficit for next year,” Grace said.

“Most of our peer cities are at 2 percent or higher, and Parma is at 2.5 percent. Part of the reason why we have to go to 2.25 percent is the fact that our peer cities that are at 2 percent have been there for many years and have been able to weather this bad economy much better.”

This year, Elyria has had to battle budget shortfalls, remedied only by laying off city workers and cutting city services.

“The effects of the national economy have hit our city as hard as any — dramatically reducing our revenue,” Grace said. “The revenue just continues to decline. We are faced with either making substantial additional cuts or using the revenue from Issue 10 to attempt to maintain existing services.”

Grace has said the city would be in two very different situations should Issue 10 pass or fail.

Passage would mean that 10 laid-off firefighters would be reinstated, no police officers will be cut, a portion of the city’s parks and recreation programs will be restored and the Police Department would see a portion of their civilian support staff brought back.

However, if the tax fails, Grace said additional firefighters — on top of 16 that already were lost this year — will be cut, only those parks and recreation programs that can fund themselves will be offered, and the Street Department will have less money to maintain roads.

The most dramatic consequence would come at the Police Department.

While the department has watched the elimination of its jail staff and civilian work force, it has escaped cuts to the patrol force this year.

However, Grace said next year, 10 to 15 police officers will be laid off if the tax does not pass.

A cut like that would have rippling effects on the department, said Tom Baracskai, president of the Elyria Police Patrolmen’s Association.

Currently, EPPA represents 64 patrolmen of which nine are in the detectives unit, four are in the narcotics/neighborhood impact unit, two work out of the Wilkes Villa housing complex and are paid by Lorain County Metropolitan Housing Authority, one is the Elyria High School police resource officer and one is a member of the Violent Fugitive Task Force paid for by federal grant money.

That leaves 47 patrolmen on the road to handle calls. That number equates to approximately five officers for each eight-hour shift rotating 24 hours a day and seven days a week, Baracskai said.

“If we lose guys, we will still answer calls. I’m not saying we will not answer calls,” he said to residents at a recent town hall meeting. “But I am saying we will prioritize which calls get answered first. Now, you will have to wait a little bit longer to report a bike stolen from your backyard because officers will be handling more pressing calls first.”

Because of the ramifications to the city’s safety forces, Issue 10 campaign chairman and Councilman Kevin Brubaker, D-at large, is spending many of the days leading up to the election talking with residents.

“We have to get the word out about what this means,” he said. “This is about our city’s future, and I don’t want to see us looking at 14 months of cuts before we can even go back to the voters.”

It’s the city charter that dictates how and when city leaders can place income tax issues before voters. And, as it reads now, if Issue 10 fails, the city will have to wait until November 2010 before it can ask residents again to increase the income tax.

“Before residents fail this issue because they think it will permanently increase the income tax to 2.25 percent, they should know that in 4½ years, the city’s 0.5 percent temporary income tax will expire and if they feel we are doing better, they have the option of not voting to renew it and the income tax rate will drop back down to 1.75 percent,” Brubaker said. “This is needed now, but it does not permanently raise our overall rate to 2.25 percent.”

Issue 10

• What: A 0.5 percent income tax increase.
• Duration: Permanent.
• How much it would raise: A reported $5.5 million of additional revenue each year.
• Purpose: 80 percent will fund existing city services while the remaining 20 percent will go toward additional funding for the police, streets and parks and recreation departments.
• Cost to taxpayer: Individuals who work in Elyria will see less than $2 more deducted from their city income tax withholdings.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — A fired Lorain County Juvenile Detention Home worker has been indicted on a felonious assault charge for slamming an inmate at the facility face-first into a table.

James Catalano, 47, has told investigators that the 15-year-old boy he grabbed used a racial epitaph and began to “swing and flail” his arms, but in a security video of the incident the boy appears to keep his arms at his side as Catalano grabs him. The footage doesn’t have audio.

Both Catalano and the boy are white, but there were black inmates in the area when the incident occurred about 2:30 p.m. July 24. Detention home staff had just broken up a fight between other inmates when the incident occurred.

The boy and several others who weren’t involved in the fight in the facility’s common room were told to face the wall, but Catalano told investigators the boy kept looking at him.

The video — which county Prosecutor Dennis Will said was shown to grand jurors considering charges against Catalano — shows Catalano walk across the room and grab the boy and throw him to the table.

He then hands the boy off to other detention home workers at the facility, who hustled him out of the room.

The boy told investigators that he told Catalano “Get off me; I can walk” when the detention home worker grabbed him.

The boy also said that Catalano later visited him in his room to ask him what happened and he replied that “it’s on camera.” Catalano then said “Oh, you think so,” according to the county sheriff’s report.

The boy received 17 stitches to his chin at EMH Regional Medical Center before being returned to the detention home.

He was freed on house arrest in September after admitting to charges of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.

The boy was arrested by Elyria police after a July 1 incident in which he threatened a Lake Avenue man with a submachine gun loaded with the wrong ammunition.

Catalano, a supervisor who had worked his way up the ranks at the detention home since 1989, was fired in September after an internal Juvenile Court review determined he “engaged in fighting and caused serious harm” to the boy.

Juvenile Court Administrator Doug Messer said Catalano has fought his termination. Messer upheld the firing, but he said Catalano has appealed through his union and the firing will be reviewed.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

Amateur shutterbugs have inundated The Chronicle-Telegram with an impressive array of beautiful and beautifully composed photos of this year’s vivid fall foliage.

The pictures have been almost as prolific as the leaves that are just now starting to tumble down from trees throughout the county.

Elyria’s Mike Tylicki, who grew up on Furnace Street in the 1980s “and lived in the (Cascade) park when I was a kid” said he can’t recall another year when the palette of reds, yellows, browns and purples bathing the park’s trees have been as vivid or plentiful.

“Everywhere you look, there’s a picture,” Tylicki said Monday. “It’s fantastic. You can’t take a bad shot.”

Most of the photos he snapped over a nearly three-week period with a new digital camera more than back up his description.

“Even in my own yard where the trees are normally drab and have no color, this year they had lots of color for whatever reason,” Tylicki said. ”It’s made it an exceptional year.”

The “it” turns out to be a near-perfect mix of shorter, sunny days and longer, cooler nights, according to Jannah Tucker, a Lorain County Metro Parks naturalist. “When we have nights that are crisp but not freezing, that helps brings about the most spectacular color displays.”

The map may be slow to load depending on your browser and connection speed. (You’ll know it’s loaded when you see the purple camera icons on it.) If it doesn’t load, click on the link at the bottom of the map to view in Google maps. Drag your cursor around the map to move it, and zoom in to reveal more photos.

View Lorain County fall foliage 2009 in a larger map

The annual phenomenon that sees trees transform themselves from solid greens to a canvas of lush yellows, oranges and reds is the result of shorter days offering less sunlight, gradually cooler temperatures and moisture, which was much greater this fall, thanks to the near-total lack of any hot spell this summer, according to Tucker.

“Temperature and moisture are the main influences of color change.”

From a scientific standpoint, the color change is due to natural pigments found in trees including chlorophyll, that produces green plants and tree leaves. The dominant chemical through the spring and summer months, it breaks down as fall begins, temperatures cool, and days get shorter. “It starts to get bleached out of the leaves and the other chemicals start to show themselves,” Tucker said.

Those other chemicals or pigments are carotenoids, which produce autumn’s gorgeous yellows, oranges and browns and anthocyanins, which create the rich, deep red and purple-tinged leaves.

“The colors have been very brilliant all over town,” said Joe Meade of Elyria, who also saw lots of vivid fall color on a recent drive to Amish country in Holmes and Wayne counties. “It’s exceptionally good down there.”

Jerry Louk, who lives in Vermilion, got lovely photos along the Vermilion River near Gore Orphanage Road. “The fall colors are more vibrant than last fall,” he wrote in an e-mail accompanying his pictures. “Why would anyone want to go to New England to see fall foliage when it’s in our backyard?”

Some of Tylicki’s Cascade Park shots were taken as he sat inside his truck during a rain shower. “The thumbnails online do not do them (the colors) justice. They’re just exceptional.”

This week will likely be everyone’s last chance to savor the show, Tucker said. “The weather will be nice. It’s a good time to get out. By this weekend a lot of leaves will start to fall. Trees are planning ahead. They need to save energy for the winter, so they start to shut down the supply of energy that goes to leaves.”

Looking for leaves?

Chronicle readers have sent in hundreds of fall foliage photos, and we’ve mapped them out online. Finding Lorain County’s best color is just a click away at Chroniclet.com, where you can view the fall foliage map or look through our photo gallery. Submit your photos by sending them to ctphotos@chroniclet.com. We’ll include them online, and our favorites will make the print paper.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

PITTSFIELD TWP. — A two-car accident this morning at Quarry Road and state Route 20 in Pittsfield Township sent at least three people to the hospital, according to Lt. Bill Brown of the Wellington Fire Department.

A Ford Focus and a Subaru Outback were involved in the accident, which happened a little after 9 a.m.

A man carrying an infant was seen exiting one of the vehicles involved in the accident and disappearing into the woods. He was located, Brown said, and he and the infant may receive medical attention as well.

The other three sent to Allen Memorial Hospital in Oberlin were a woman from Amherst, who was a passenger in the Subaru, and two teenage girls from the Focus. The man and infant were in the Focus as well, Brown said.

Check back at Chroniclet.com for more on this story as it becomes available.