Butler County leaders fought unsuccessfully for months at the Statehouse level to reduce a large, state-mandated property tax increase, but in the last few months some local governments have approved a new way to collectively save taxpayers millions.
In September, Butler County Auditor Nancy Nix pitched a proposal to have local governments defer collecting taxes on their inside millage above the amount collected in 2022.
She said the plan, if all local governments took part, could save a collective $39 million. Not all are taking part, but Butler County commissioners and five local governments jumped on board.
“I applaud those local governments who have elected to hold the line on tax increases,” Nix said. “Their costs have increased, too, from inflation, but they are foregoing the additional inside millage funding that would have been generated from the value increases in their localities.”
Inside millage, basically, is 10 mills of unvoted property tax millage in a given political subdivision that dates back to when the Ohio legislature first started property taxes. The inside mills for an area are proportionally distributed to three jurisdictions: a county, a school district, and either a township or municipality.
Fairfield Twp. quickly came on board with the deferral plan and the village of Seven Mile followed; initially, they were the only two local governments that voted to participate.
Individually, it isn’t a lot of money being collected, but added together it’s a considerable savings.
The projected benefit from the Commissioners’ 0.44-mill inside millage reduction is $15.40 for a $100,000 home and $46.20 on a $300,000 home, which is close to the average home value in Butler County. That means the county is foregoing nearly $5.75 million that could have been used for other things, such as incentive pay, raises or new hires.
In West Chester Twp., taxpayers will see a 0.29 reduction of inside millage, which equates to just under $950,000 total, and neighboring Liberty Twp. will see a 0.39-mill reduction, collectively saving the community $700,000 overall.
The city of Middletown will have a 0.275-mill reduction for half the year, which will save taxpayers just more than $300,000.
Fairfield Twp.’s 0.33-mill education will see a collective savings of around $254,000 while Seven Mile’s 0.4-mill reduction will bring a savings of $8,400.
Fairfield Twp. Trustee President Michael Berding said his board wanted to take part in the tax reduction proposal “to help alleviate some of the increased property tax burden placed on our citizens by the Ohio Tax Commissioner’s inflated tax valuations.”
“We determined we could operate on the dollars that were generated before the increase, therefore we passed a resolution to collect only the amounts we collected the year before the increased values hit home owners,” he said.
Middletown was one of the last local governments to participate when leaders voted on Tuesday night during a special City Council meeting. It was unanimously approved, but they are only forgoing six months instead of a year.
Council member Zack Ferrell said Middletown residents have supported the city’s efforts to build four fire stations and repave a large percentage of roads, so it was important to “put money back in the pockets” of residents.
Ferrell said the city may extend the resolution, depending on the health of the city’s finances.
The city of Hamilton didn’t participate because of the uncertainty of the proposed county auditor program as they were finalizing the city budget, said Finance Director Dave Jones.
“At one point, it appeared there would be state action to resolve the issue. Given the uncertainty, we had to act in the best interest of the community,” he said. “As a result, we budgeted the additional amount (of inside millage) to be used for roads, which has consistently been identified as a top priority by the residents of Hamilton.”
Though no school districts offered to give up any inside millage increases, the county auditor’s office has discretion and will reduce voted millage in nine school districts with a collective savings to taxpayers of $22.1 million. Nix said she had been in discussion for months with the districts, so her decision was not a surprise.
The only district untouched is New Miami, as they have no current debt collections or eligible levies.
The per-school-district savings breakdown and savings per $100,000 and $300,000 home, and the total savings for each district are:
Edgewood’s savings is $1,494,939, Fairfield’s savings is $2,316,859, Hamilton’s savings is $2,519,656, Lakota‘s savings is $5,147,074, Madison‘s savings is $824,815, Middletown‘s savings is $5,608,292, Monroe‘s savings is $2,379,592, Ross‘ savings is $639,168, and Talawanda‘s savings is $1,128,247.
“Our office annually reviews school finances and discusses fund balances with school treasurers in an effort to balance a district’s needs while safeguarding taxpayers,” Nix said. “The upcoming rate reductions will be tangible for homeowners, and we appreciate the cooperation of school district treasurers.”
Without lowering the rates on bonds, emergency levies and substitute levies, carryover balances would have continued to swell. She said Middletown taxpayers will see savings from three taxing agencies.
“When combined with the rate reductions my office is implementing, homeowners in Middletown will be seeing reductions from the commissioners, the city and the school in an amount of about $202 per $100,000 in home value,” said Nix. “That should provide a real help.”
Nournal-News staff writer Rick McCrabb contributed to this story. Journal-News is a media partner of WCPO.com.
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