CINCINNATI — Some Hamilton County homeowners are turning their front yards into graveyards.
They’re adding homemade tombstones that show messages like “R.I.P Ohio Homeowners” in a protest against increased property taxes across Hamilton County.
Residential property taxes increased an average of 14.8% in Hamilton County overall, according to data from the auditor’s office. Within the City of Cincinnati, taxes increased 23.3%, with higher spikes elsewhere.
Homeowners like Latasha Shields, who has seen her property taxes increase 500% in Walnut Hills, said the signs are so elected officials don’t forget about the hardship of the increases.
“We have to start somewhere to get ahold of this,” Shields said. “As the prices go up and up and up, a lot of us will be forced out of our homes due to … the taxes increasing."
The signs are homemade “because the county has all of our money,” said Northside homeowner Sarah Wolf.
The group behind the homemade signs is a Facebook group with nearly 1,000 members. Shields said the communication among homeowners has gotten the attention of elected leaders.
“We’re getting them to listen,” she said.
Last week, Hamilton County commissioners said they’ll re-allocate over $700,000 of federal funds into a program that provides financial relief to homeowners struggling to make ends meet.
“We know it's a 911 emergency for our Hamilton County homeowners,” Hamilton County Commissioner Alicia Reece said at the Feb. 29 meeting. “We as a county, we don't have the flexibility we would like to have.”
Neither does the city, but council member Mark Jeffreys said Monday that he’ll do what he can by proposing a new task force.
“That task force will be focused solely on Cincinnati because we can't control necessarily what the state is doing,” Jeffreys said. “We are encouraging them to address this issue."
But at that state level, it’s a waiting game. There are several bills in the works in Columbus, though none have crossed the finish line.
“We've been working with the legislature on this, nothing's done yet,” said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. “But there's a great deal of interest.”
Northside homeowner Connie Frick said she believes the commissioners "really do care."
Her taxes increased by 62%. On average, the tax bill for residential properties in Northside increased 43%.
“Nobody's gonna argue that Northside hasn't had a great revitalization, but it's been for 15 years,” Frick said. “And we got tax last year as if it all happened in a year! So that’s just not OK.”
In the meantime, some people like Shields are planning on taking on more shifts.
“I value my time with my kids, especially on the weekends and things, but I have to pick up now in order to be able to pay for these property taxes,” Shields said.
The protest gives meaning to Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote: “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
