The Board of Education for Cincinnati Public Schools voted Monday night to rescind a resolution to put a 0.75% earned income tax levy before voters this November, just one week after approving the ballot measure.
The school board approved a new resolution submitting a 7-mill property tax lasting five years for consideration during the midterm election.
Five of the seven board members voted to proceed with the new property tax. Member Kendra Mapp voted against it, standing behind her decision to support the earned income tax. Board Vice President Kareem Moffett abstained.
If approved by voters, the property tax will generate an estimated $64.7 million annually for CPS, a smaller amount than the previously approved income tax that would've pulled in $74 million a year if successful.
The reversal comes after the Board received immediate pushback from local Democrats and Republicans, both of whom opposed the earned income tax. Hamilton County GOP Chairman Josh Gerth called it "irresponsible" and "reckless," adding that the size of the district's budget was the least of its problems. The same day, members of the Hamilton County Democrats' executive committee voted 50-23 to ask Party Chair Alex Linser to speak with the school board and ask them to reconsider their vote on the tax.
“Obviously, whether or not the Democratic Party would endorse a ballot levy measure is an important political consideration for the ultimate success or failure of that at the ballot,” Linser told WVXU at the time.
During their meeting last week, CPS board members were split on whether the district should adopt an income tax or a property tax, with both sides expressing concern about which option voters would support. After an initial resolution to place an additional property tax on the ballot failed, a resolution to proceed with an earned income tax instead was proposed and narrowly passed by the Board.
Eve Bolton was one of the members who voted in favor of last week's initial property tax proposal, but voted against the income tax resolution, questioning whether taxing residents' wages and tips would go over well with voters.
Bolton says this new 7-mill property tax levy is something more voters will be comfortable supporting come Election Day and will show how much the public believes in the school district.
"The ultimate engagement in a democracy is a campaign and vote," she said. "Put it on the ballot and let the people decide."
The school district's administration says new revenue from the proposed levy will be essential in 2027. This June, the school board voted to approve more than 100 job cuts district-wide to help close a $58 million budget gap. Without more money, CPS Treasurer Mike Gustin warns that harsher budget cuts, including school consolidation, will need to be implemented by the school board. Otherwise, the district will enter a fiscal emergency.
"At what point does the Board say, 'We can't do it anymore, because the CPS that's left after these cuts is not the CPS that any of us want to be a part of? It's a shell of a district that does the bare minimum. It's your stereotypical urban school district that's not innovative, that's not offering opportunities,' " Gustin told board members.
Monday night was the Board of Education's last chance to put a measure on the ballot. The deadline to file an issue for the midterms is Aug. 5 at 4 p.m.
If voters approve the levy, the 7-mill property tax would cost $245 per $100,000 of home value. Election Day is Nov. 3.
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