Beavercreek voters rejected a 1% income tax for the sixth time in the past 32 years.
The proposed measure would have annually generated about $19.6 million to maintain current services, offset rising costs and cover the gap period before the full collection of income taxes.
According to city leaders, nearly 23,000 non-residents work in the city and about 3,000 work and live in Beavercreek. Matt Owens lives in Beavercreek and works in Dayton. Speaking early in the day, before votes were totaled, he said he believed voters would consider their personal finances when deciding this issue.
"People are gonna vote for their best interests," Owens said. "They think anyone who's coming to work in Beavercreek, we'll tax them since they're not footing any of the bills for anything in Beavercreek. I think people will be voting depending on their personal situations on what's gonna impact them the most financially."
Beavercreek’s city leaders had said if the measure had passed they would eliminate 9 current property taxes, reducing city property tax revenue for municipal operations by about $15.2 million. Annually, the city collects $30.7 million in property taxes.
This measure would have been levied on people 18 years and older, who work in Beavercreek. Residents already paying 1% or more to another municipality would have gotten a 100% credit.
Some income would not have been affected including social security, pensions, IRAs, investment income, 401Ks, active-duty military pay, child support, unemployment compensation and earnings under $1,000.
