DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – A potential income tax increase in Dayton will now be up to voters to decide. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and City Manager Shelley Dickstein are asking voters to approve the city’s first income tax increase in more than 30 years.

The issue will be on the ballot this November. It would raise income tax rate from 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. The money would provide universal preschool to every 4-year-old in Dayton.

For someone working in Dayton and earning about $35,000, it would mean paying an extra $1.60 cents per week or about $83 dollars per year in taxes.

The increase would bring in an additional $10.5 million dollars. $4 million would be spent on city’s preschool initiative. According to Mayor Whaley, 80 percent of children in Dayton aren’t ready when they start kindergarten.

“We know that if we have kids that are ready for kindergarten, come to kindergarten regularly, they do better in 3rd grade reading,” Mayor Whaley said. “Our whole goal is to make sure our workforce is strong. We know that by 2020 two out of 3 jobs require something past a high school diploma.”

The additional money will be spent on infrastructure projects like street pavement and the maintenance. If approved, the tax increase would last for 8 years.