The Hamilton County commissioners say they're working on property tax relief for struggling homeowners, but not through “piggyback” tax exemptions recently allowed by the state.
The commissioners did not vote on expanding the existing homestead exemption or the owner occupancy credit at their meeting Thursday, before the state's deadline Friday.
While the state reimburses local governments for the current property tax credits, it would not pay for the expanded property tax credits. Doubling both the homestead exemption and owner occupancy credit would cost local school districts, governments and voted levies nearly $35 million in revenue a year, according to a report from the Hamilton County administrator.
Local schools voice opposition, funding concerns
Several local school leaders voiced opposition to the measures at Thursday’s commission meeting.
Cincinnati Public Schools Treasurer Michael Gustin says the measures could cost the district more than $7 million annually, which equals the salary and benefits of more than 150 hourly employees.
"If we are forced to make these cuts, though, it won't just be teachers affected," Gustin said. "Most of our classrooms are at their contractual limits for student size. The things we will have to cut are the very support systems our kids rely upon, security, transportation, paraprofessionals, extracurriculars."
He and leaders from other local districts urged the state to provide property tax relief options that won't hurt students.
'We should not be passing the buck'
After hearing the school leaders' comments, the majority of the commissioners also said they opposed doubling the homestead exemption or the owner occupancy credit.
Commission President Denise Driehaus was part of state’s property tax working group, which put forth 20 recommendations to combat rising property tax bills.
“We've had many good ideas. This piggyback, where the burden falls to the local communities is not one of them,” Driehaus said. “It has too many negative impacts and does to the locals what the state is doing to us, passing the buck. We should not be passing the buck.”
The commissioners all called on the state to fund a solution.
“The state has the capacity, unlike the county and unlike the school districts and the municipalities and the townships, to take on this kind of relief, and they should do it,” Driehaus said. “They've got tax exemptions, $12 billion worth of tax breaks they give away every year... And they also have an enormous rainy-day fund.”
While the commissioners held off on voting on either of the "piggyback" exemptions, Driehaus says they're still considering other options for property tax relief.
Butler County commissioners in September approved two measures to reduce property taxes, including a “piggyback" of the state's homestead exemption.
Shortly after, the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities declared the agency is in a state of fiscal emergency and said it needs to ask voters for a funding increase for the first time in two decades.
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