The Issue 18 victory party at the Great Lakes Science Center was breaking up as Thomas Schorgl recalled the last time a tax to fund arts and culture was put before voters. As head of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, Schorgl led the charge in 2004 for a property tax hike that went down to defeat.
Thomas Schorgl: The difference was more time. Two years ago, there was about six weeks to run a campaign.
This time, the campaign lasted months and built-up a considerable war chest to deliver its message. Joe Rice of the Issue 18 opposition group Citizens Against New Taxes says he was out-gunned.
Joe Rice: If we'd had some money for television - which we didn't - it might have been different. About the only thing their commercials didn't say was that Issue 18 was a cure for cancer.
The campaign for Issue 18 claimed that the cigarette tax would yield about $20 million a year, but Thomas Schorgl says the exact figure has yet to be determined.
Thomas Schorgl: The county will want to have at least two-quarters of collections completed before it would forecast what an annual total would be.
In the meantime, he says, work will begin on refining the procedure for distributing grant money to applicants. David C. Barnett, 90.3.