Toledo’s “temporary” 0.75 percent income tax keeps police and firefighters on the streets and promotes the city’s growth, leaders of the local police and fire unions said Monday to urge voters to support that tax’s renewal on Election Day.

“Renew this levy so that we, your police and firefighters, can continue to be there when you call on us for help,” Dan Wagner, president of the Toledo Police Patrolmen’s Association, said during a news conference in front of the police department’s district station on Sylvania Avenue in West Toledo.

His remarks followed those of Jeff Koenigseker, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 92, and Dan Schultz, president of the Toledo Police Command Officers’ Association, who noted respectively that the tax is a renewal and applies only to payroll income and not pensions, Social Security, or government assistance.

Should the renewal fail, Mr. Koenigseker said, eight of Toledo’s 19 firehouses will close and 211 firefighters will be laid off.

“You call on us in your time of need, and you need to vote yes to keep all of our 19 fire stations open,” he said.

Mr. Wagner warned of similar consequences for police, including 260 layoffs and closing of the department’s detective bureau, vice section, and gang task force.

“Imagine that city. Imagine the trials we will face,” Mr. Wagner said. “You’ll see an end to police response to noninjury accidents, noise complaints, parking problems, dog bites, menacing, and ‘keep the peace’ calls. Our ability to cool down situations before they become violent will end.”

The police and fire union leaders were flanked by representatives of several other local unions.

The income tax up for renewal “is important to the community our members serve,” said Kevin Dalton, president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers. “We need the dollars for the safety forces and the infrastructure to keep our neighborhoods safe. … We need safety forces at their fullest strength they can be to ensure [schoolchildren’s] safe passage to and from school.”

The Hicks-Hudson administration proposed last March to increase the 0.75 percent tax to 1 percent and dedicate most of the revenue to street improvements, but that proposal was defeated soundly at the polls.

Toledo also collects a permanent 1.5 percent income tax on local payrolls. The “temporary tax” has been collected for 30 years, renewed at five-year intervals.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.

First Published August 9, 2016, 4:00 a.m.