Republicans on Allegheny County Council failed Tuesday to strike council's drink-tax referendum from the November ballot when they were unsuccessful in repealing the portion of the law under which the question was adopted.
Republican council members Matt Drozd and Jan Rea voted to waive a second reading on the measure, which sought to eliminate council's ability to place referendums on the ballot. Nine council members -- all Democrats -- voted against the waiver and three abstained.
Council's Democratic majority approved a ballot question to weigh the future of the county's 10 percent drink tax against a property tax hike that could net as much as $45 million. The group Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation collected thousands of signatures in an attempt to get its drink tax question -- which proposes slashing the tax to 0.5 percent -- on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Republican Councilman Chuck McCullough abstained last night and said the 11 council Democrats named in a lawsuit over closed-door meetings that allegedly led to the council-backed ballot question should do the same.
Democratic councilmen James Ellenbogen and Bob Macey also abstained.
McCullough said he spoke only as a council member, though he is representing Ellenbogen in the case.
In other news, council sent to the government reform committee a proposed ordinance by Drozd that would require the increase or new collection of taxes to be approved by voters through a referendum.
"Ninety-eight percent of the people out there want an opportunity to vote ... when the topic's taxes," Drozd said. "This is the right thing to do."
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