Toledo won’t fall apart without the income tax increase on Tuesday’s ballot, but its streets won’t get any better if it fails, Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson said.

“This is a decision that will keep us moving forward or we will be treading water ... or we could sink,” the mayor said.

“We are continuing to work to explain to voters that this is necessary so we can get our residential roads fixed starting this summer and that this will benefit all of us,” she said. “It will show we are able to take care of our infrastructure.”

RELATED: Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson guest commentary on Issue 2

Voters will decide whether to approve Issue 2, which would increase the temporary portion of Toledo’s income tax to 1 percent from 0.75 percent through 2020.

The temporary tax is added to Toledo’s 1.5-percent permanent income tax and provides the bulk of the city’s operating and capital-improvements revenues. The new income tax total of 2.5 percent would take effect July 1.

The current 2.25 percent income tax is expected to generate $167.5 million in 2016. If it’s increased to 2.5 percent, the annual revenue jumps to $186.1 million.

At Mayor Hicks-Hudson’s urging, city council has committed to devote $16.6 million out of the of the $18.6 million the 0.25-percentage point add-on is expected to generate on an annual basis to residential street repair. Since the tax would take affect in July 1, this year’s amount would be half. 

The remaining $2 million would go to the general fund, she said.

That $2 million could be used for police salaries. A new police academy class was supposed to begin training in February. Ms. Hicks-Hudson delayed hiring 30 police officers until November and 40 fire recruits until September. She said the increase in the income tax would allow the city to hire the new police officers in May rather than November.

Mayor Hicks-Hudson acknowledged that the allocation of the income tax is complicated but stressed that $16.6 million would pay for residential street repair.

The Toledo Municipal Code calls for five-sixths of the permanent 1.5 percent income tax to go to general city operations and one-sixth to capital improvement projects like street repaving. The municipal code also calls for two-thirds of the temporary 0.75 percent income tax to go to general operations and one-third to capital improvements. 

The same split would apply to the mayor’s proposed 0.25 percentage point temporary tax hike.

The ballot measure also would stop city council from transferring capital-improvement tax money to help pay for general operating expenses — mainly police and fire salaries and benefits. This year the city will transfer between $10 million and $11 million from the capital budget to the general fund to avoid police and fire layoffs. If the tax passes, that amount for 2016 is cut in half.

The money generated specifically from the 1.5 percent permanent portion totals $111.7 million. The temporary tax, at 1 percent, would generate $74.4 million.

The municipal code-mandated splits would allocate $142.7 million for the general fund and $43.4 million for the capital improvements budget if the 0.25 percentage point increase is approved and the payroll in the city is as the Hicks-Hudson administration expects next year.

Of that $43.4 million in the capital improvements budget, $26.8 million must be spent next year on debt obligations such as paying the debt on previous roadway projects.

For each lane mile of a residential street, it costs roughly $275,000 to resurface and $750,000 to reconstruct. For each lane mile of a major street, it costs roughly $320,000 to resurface and $1 million to reconstruct, according to city records.

Also on the ballot Tuesday is a question seeking passage of an ordinance making Toledo officially in favor of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It states that corporations aren’t people and can’t be protected from campaign-finance restrictions.

The Toledo chapter of the national group Move to Amend successfully circulated petitions to get the question on the ballot.

Move to Amend, a progressive organization that claims about 380,000 members and successful initiatives in more than 600 municipalities, seeks to reverse the 2010 Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mike Ferner, former Toledo councilman and unsuccessful 2015 mayoral candidate, said the group’s goal is to deny corporations the same protections as citizens.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published March 13, 2016, 5:00 a.m.