Ohio law allows for up to 11 separate $5 license plate taxes that can be enacted by separate overlapping taxing jurisdictions, such as Warren County.
A municipality is permitted to enact a total of six $5 license plate taxes. Springboro motorists currently pay five such separate taxes or $25 total on top of their annual license plate renewal fees.
Approval of the tax that is pending before council would enable the city to reach the sixth separate tax or $30 cap, according to a report from Jonathan Hudson, city finance director.
City Manager Chris Pozzuto told council if the city does not enact this tax, another overlapping jurisdiction could now or later claim those fees and tax Springboro residents without any of those revenues being used in the city.
“We have already increased our paving budget in the CIP (Capital Improvements Plan) from $900,000-$1.3 million for the next five years, so this new money will help increase that even more,” Pozzuto said. “We want to make sure we are reinvesting as much as we can back into the city’s infrastructure.”
If council approves the ordinance, it would apply to license tag registrations starting on Jan. 1, 2023. This tax will generate about $100,000 specifically for city streets, according to Pozzuto.
There are 18,930 vehicles that are registered to motorists who reside in the city of Springboro, according to Pozzuto.
Of the current five permissive taxes already enacted, the city only receives about $155,000 or about 34% of the $460,000 that is currently shared by the city with other jurisdictions, Pozzuto said.
“We have already increased our paving budget in the CIP (Capital Improvements Plan) from $900,000-$1.3 million for the next five years, so this new money will help increase that even more,” Pozzuto said. “We want to make sure we are reinvesting as much as we can back into the City’s infrastructure.”
Springboro council vote to meet just once in January. Its Thursday meeting was cancelled.
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