The inhabitants of the City of Toledo, as its limits at the time of the adoption of this Charter are, or hereafter may be defined, shall be a body politic and corporate by name of the City of Toledo, and as such shall have perpetual succession and the following rights and powers:
(a) To use a corporate seal.
(b) To sue and be sued.
(c) To acquire property in fee simple or a lesser interest or estate therein by purchase, gift, devise, bequest, appropriation, lease or lease with privilege to purchase.
(d) To sell, lease, hold, manage and control such property, and make all rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution which may be required to carry out fully the provisions of any conveyance, deed or will, in relation to any gift or bequest, or the provisions of any lease by which the City may acquire property.
(e) To acquire, construct, own, lease and operate, within or without its corporate limits, any public utility, the product or service of which is, or is to be supplied by the City or its inhabitants, and to contract with others for such product or service. The acquisition of any such public utility may be by condemnation or otherwise, and the City may acquire thereby the use of, or full title to, the property and franchise of any company or person supplying to the City or its inhabitants the service or product of any such utility.
The City owning or operating a public utility for the purpose of supplying the service or product thereof to the City or its inhabitants, may also sell and deliver to others any transportation service of such utility, and the surplus product of any other utility in an amount not exceeding in either case fifty percent of the total service or product supplied by such utility within the City, provided that such fifty percent limitation shall not apply to the sale of water or sewage services.
The City shall also have power to regulate public utilities under private ownership.
In proceedings to acquire, construct, own, lease or operate a public utility, or to contract with any person or company therefor or the product or service thereof, or to sell and deliver to others any transportation service of such utility or the surplus product of any other utility, the City shall act by ordinance, and the provisions of Section 226 of this Charter shall not apply to any proceedings or contract authorized under this subdivision.
(Amended by electors 11-8-60)
(f) To assess, levy and collect taxes on all property which the City may lawfully tax for general or special purposes including taxes for the purchase, lease, equipment, maintenance and operation of public playgrounds, gymnasiums, swimming pools and other recreation facilities which tend to the upbuilding of a sturdier citizenship, and taxes for the purpose of acquiring, constructing or extending any public utility or means of transportation, the product or service of which is or is to be supplied to the City or its inhabitants.
(Amended by electors 11-4-19)
(g) To borrow money on the faith and credit of the City by the issue and sale of bonds or notes of the City; but no such obligation shall be sold by the City for less than par value and accrued interest.
(h) To appropriate the money of the City for all lawful purposes.
(i) To create, provide for, purchase, construct, maintain and regulate all things in the nature of public works, buildings, improvements, means and facilities for transportation or communication, or the furnishing of light, heat and power.
(Amended by electors 11-4-19)
(j) To levy and collect assessments for local improvements.
(k) To license and regulate persons, corporations, and associations engaged in any lawful business, occupation, profession or trade.
(l) To supervise, regulate or suppress, in the interest of public morals, public recreations, amusements and entertainments, and to define, prohibit, abate or suppress all things detrimental to the health, morals, comfort, safety, convenience, and welfare of the people, and all nuisances and causes thereof.
(m) To pass such ordinances as are expedient for maintaining and promoting the peace, good government and welfare of the City, and the morals and happiness of its citizens, and for the performance of all municipal functions, including provisions for the care and civic instruction of immigrants.
(n) To provide for the destruction of noxious weeds, and for the payment of the expense thereof by assessment or otherwise.
(o) To regulate the erection of fences, billboards, signs, and other structures, and provide for the removal or repair of insecure billboards, signs and other structures.
(p) To regulate and control the use for whatever purposes of the streets and other public places.
(q) To create, establish, organize and abolish offices, and fix the salaries and compensation of all officers and employees.
(r) To make and enforce local police, sanitary and other regulations.
(s) The total tax rate which may be levied without a vote of the people for the current operating expenses of the City of Toledo upon the tax list and duplicate of property assessed and listed for taxation according to value for the tax year 1969 and each year thereafter shall not exceed 4.445 mills per dollar of assessed valuation, provided that said 4.445 mills shall be reduced in each year by that number of mills, including fractional parts thereof, which is levied in the respective year by the City within the ten mill limitation imposed by Article XII, Section 2, of the Ohio Constitution, for the purpose of paying interest on and principal of obligations issued without a vote of the people.
The City shall be able to levy for current operating expenses in any year as much as 4.445 mills per dollar of assessed valuation without a vote of the electors, even though a part of the territorial limits of the City are not within the territorial limits of the Toledo City School District, since said 4.445 mills is outside of the ten mill limitation imposed by Article XII, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution.
The limitation of this section of the Charter upon the power of Council to levy general property taxes shall not operate as a limitation upon the power of Council to levy taxes upon such other subjects and for such other purposes as may be lawful under the Constitution and laws of the State of Ohio, nor shall this section be deemed to be a limitation upon the power of Council to incur indebtedness for all lawful purposes within applicable constitutional and statutory limitations.
(Amended by electors 9-9-69)
(u) Provisions of the preceding subsections (s) and (t) of this section of the Charter of the City of Toledo, to the contrary notwithstanding, the total tax rate which may be levied without a vote of the people for all purposes of the City of Toledo, its boards, departments, and institutions, upon the duplicate of property in the City listed and assessed for taxation according to value, shall not in any one year exceed 6.445 mills or in the event of the approval of subsection (t) by the electors, shall not in any one year exceed 7.445 mills per dollar of assessed valuation. Out of said total maximum levy, as the case may be, two (2) mills may be levied for the purposes of the University of the City of Toledo, and at the request of the Board of Directors of said University all or any part of said rate shall be levied for capital improvements and costs of operation. The purpose of said additional two (2) mills per dollar of assessed valuation for the University of the City of Toledo is to authorize such levy beyond the ten (10) mill constitutional and statutory limitations, without a vote of the electors, and the proceeds of such additional two (2) mill levy shall be used for no other purpose.
By the adoption of this amendment all improvements referred to herein and to be paid for in whole or in part from the proceeds of any such levy in excess of 4.445 mills shall be deemed to be approved under the provisions of Section 79 of this Charter and no other or further approval shall be required.
The limitation of this subsection of the Charter upon the powers of Council to levy property taxes shall not operate as a limitation upon the power of Council to levy taxes upon such other subjects and for such other purposes as may be lawful under the Constitution and laws of the State of Ohio, nor shall this subsection be deemed to be a limitation upon the power of Council to incur indebtedness for such improvements and all other lawful purposes within constitutional and statutory limitations.
(Amended by electors 10-6-59)