CINCINNATI — Hamilton County Treasurer Jill Schiller issued a statement Wednesday calling on the Ohio legislature to act to help homeowners across the state grappling with a spike in property taxes.
Schiller said she's been hearing from constituents in Hamilton County "who are shocked by the increases in their tax bills this year."
Sarah Wolf is one of those homeowners.
"Blindsided," she said, describing the sticker shock when she saw her bill. "Stabbed in the gut."
Wolf and her husband bought their historic Northside home in 2019 for $215,000. Needing a near complete gut job, it had sat on the market for four years.
They've made some progress on the home, but it still requires hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs to bring it back to it's glory, she said. Among other projects, the wraparound porch is reduced to rubble, the foundation pillars need to be raised and the roof needs to be replaced.
Since 2019, Wolf said she's paid $5,000 a year in taxes. With 2023's reappraisal, her bill has more than doubled to $15,000.
"They're saying (the home) is worth $700,000 and we have the taxes to match," Wolf said.
While the county treasurer's office is an administrative arm of state law, Schiller said policies relating to tax payment due dates and penalties on late payments have to be set into the Ohio Revised Code by the state legislature.
"That means Ohioans throughout our 88 counties are facing the same predicament," wrote Schiller. "I have been working with fellow treasurers and auditors around the state to ask the state legislature to act to ease the burden for homeowners as their property taxes come due."
In Hamilton County, property values increased an average of 28% while property taxes rose by an average of 10.4%. The exact increases vary by neighborhood depending on several factors.
"The state mandates a reevaluation of property every 6 years. This was our year and the real estate market has obviously been very hot recently so the evaluations have gone up a lot," Schiller said.
Areas with historically lower property values saw the biggest increases while wealthier neighborhoods saw lower increases. Some areas didn't change at all.
Schools and levies also factor in. The former benefits from most of your property taxes — about 60%, Schiller said — the latter of which were voted on and passed by constituents.
"It's really a very individual type of a thing per bill," she said.
Property values and taxes don't have a 100% correlation either Schiller said. While increased values impacted taxes, it didn't account for all of the change.
"Just because your evaluation might have risen 50% does not mean — it almost 100% means your taxes also will not rise 50%," she said.
Schiller isn't the only one looking for ways to soften the blow of the tax increase. Homeowners in Northside, led by Wolf, have gathered together and plan to attend the county commissioner's meeting on Thursday.
Wolf said she still has many questions for the county and believes there needs to be a local solution to remedy the strain on property owners.
"We can't afford a $700,00 house. We couldn't even get a loan for $700,000. That's why we bought what we could afford and everybody else does too. Everybody else has to live within their means," Wolf said. "What if the IRS could do that? What if the IRS could say, 'Oh, you're making $50,000 a year but we think your job is worth $150,000 a year, and you're not going to get $150,000 a year, but we're going to tax you on it.'"
While Wolf and her husband said they can dip into savings, she's worried for seniors and low-income families who are already struggling to get by.
"Senior houses, working class families' houses — if they start getting leans for delinquent taxes — we've got 500 homeowners who are just going to go right back down to the county."
Schiller said her office offers a delinquency payment plan. If property owners cannot pay the bill by February 5, they are encouraged to call after the due date to set up a plan that will allow the bill to be paid in five installments over a two and a half year period. If property owners can make those payments on time and stay current on taxes that come due in the meantime, there will be no mark on the property owner's record.
Still, Schiller says one of the best ways homeowners can make their concerns heard is to reach out at the state level.
"I urge people to reach out to their state representatives and senators to ask they pass legislation that will help them stay in their homes," she said.
Homeowners who think their home valuation was miscalculated have another avenue they can take. If your home's taxes jumped more than the homes around it, there's an appeal process available.
