Artist Susan Naylor has lived in her East Price Hill home for more than 30 years. It was modestly priced when she settled there in the 1990s — it just called out to her.
She's since set up her studio there and thinks of her yard as a work of art.
"It's a Sears house," she says. "It's a darling cottage, and when I saw it, it looked just like my grandmother's house. It was just cozy. My lot is all flower garden — I have like, this field of sunflowers and zinnias. It's my love. My biggest painting of the year."
Naylor will be 80 this summer. She lives on a small income — a little from social security, a little from her art, a little from a part time job at a nearby art studio. So it was a shock when she got her property tax assessment late last year. Her property taxes were doubling, meaning hundreds of dollars more a month in housing costs. She says she'll have a hard time affording the increase.
Naylor isn't alone. Thousands of homeowners across Cincinnati are experiencing difficulty over the higher taxes.
The Council on Aging of Southwest Ohio's Government Relations Director Nancy Cahall says seniors like those the organization serves could be among the hardest hit.
"Their monthly income is about $1,588," Cahall says of Council on Aging's clients. "They're fixed income. They also on average pay about $240 a month in health care costs. So you take that, and you take their housing costs. This has a huge impact on them in terms of whether they're going to be able to stay in the home they determined they wanted to spend the rest of their life in."
Cahall is part of a task force looking at how to help Cincinnatians affected by the tax increases. It was put together by Councilmember Mark Jeffreys.
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"It's not surprising, and honestly, it's the most concerning," Jeffreys says of the situation some senior homeowners are facing. "These are folks who have invested in their house, invested in their community, now trying to enjoy retirement."
Cahall says research suggests making sure seniors have the choice to age in place can extend both quality and length of life. And it doesn't just benefit seniors.
"To have a wide range of ages living in the community makes it a robust community and is a benefit to everyone who lives there," she says.
Cincinnati City Council is considering $1 million in aid to homeowners who are behind on their property tax bills. The city is also looking at other ways it can help, but Jeffreys also says most of the solution will have to come from state lawmakers.
The state already allows some property tax relief. People who own the home they occupy get up to 2.5% off their taxes.
People over 65 can also apply for the homestead exemption, which knocks about $26,000 off the taxable valuation of their homes.
"I have the homestead thing," Naylor says. "I have the owner occupancy thing."
She says even that help isn't enough, though.
Cahall says she's hopeful the exemption can be made more effective, however.
"I think the homestead exemption is very important," she says. "I think improving and expanding the homestead exemption is very important."
There are at least four bills currently before the Ohio General Assembly that would do that — most by Southwest Ohio lawmakers like State Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) and Butler County State Rep. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Twp). Last year, they proposed HB 263, which would freeze property taxes for people over 70 who make less than $70,000 and have lived in their homes for more than 10 years. Hall also proposed another bill that would have changed the way county auditors appraise property values so that increases in many areas wouldn't be so high, but that bill was amended. It passed the Ohio Senate last December without that change. Instead, it would increase the maximum amount of valuation in the homestead exemption to $30,000.
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As lawmakers consider bills, homeowners like Naylor are worried about paying theirs.
Seniors at a recent city town hall about the property tax increases said they're worried about having to sell their homes or losing them to tax foreclosure. Many have owned their property for decades.
They say they're not just worried about themselves; it's about the ability to pass the property on to family — a big part of wealth-building, especially in minority communities where homeownership opportunities are already scarce.
"This is the American way," Jeffreys says. "You build wealth over time and you hope to leave something to your children. And this is really putting a lot of that at risk, which is the tragic human part of this as well."
That's on the minds of younger people, too. Thirty-five-year-old Latasha Shields has owned her home in Walnut Hills for the last decade. Her property tax bill more than doubled this year.
"Hearing this, going through this, seeing this process, it scares me," she says. "Because I'm raising two young men, and I'm hoping they'll have my home after my death. And seeing how it's going down, I might not even be able to keep my home."
Shields has picked up extra shifts at her nursing job, but is still worried.
She — and seniors like Naylor — hope solutions come soon. Naylor says she has enough stashed away to get her through the higher payments for a bit. She's not sure what she'll do after that.