Cuyahoga County Port Authority Levy On The Ballot

Voters in Cuyahoga County will decide in November whether to endorse, with their property tax money, a levy to support the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.

The port authority says the 0.67 mill tax levy -- which would bring in more than about $90 million over five years and allow it "to pursue strategic initiatives aimed at sustaining and growing jobs, and attracting new investments to the City."

The levy asks for both renewal funds and new taxes. In total, the .67-mill levy would cost property owners annually about $20 per $100,000 of property value, according to the port authority.

The taxes would be first collected in 2014.

The levy would allow the port authority to pay for the strategic plan it approved last year.

The levy spending would be focused on five areas, according to the port authority:

• Market-driven capital improvements at the Port’s maritime facilities 
• Sustainable management of sediment dredged annually from the Cuyahoga River
• Stabilizing at-risk slopes and restoring bulkheads along the river’s ship channel
• Improving truck/pedestrian access on the west side of the Flats, and river clean-up actions
• Lakefront Multimodal Project with pedestrian bridge