“The amount distributed is 75 percent of the certified collections as of a certain date,” she said. “We advance 75 percent of collections as this advance is only meant to be a bridge until the final settlement.”
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The largest disbursement, $27.4 million, went to the Lakota Schools for the first of two property tax installments in 2020. Jenni Logan, CFO and treasurer for the district, said Lakota asks for the advance annually.
“It’s either us earning the interest (on the money) or the county. Some years it’s also going to be based on cash flow, some districts might have a cash flow issue that they’re working on as well,” Logan said. “The way that we look at it is, it is the district’s money and so we’re requesting it as soon as it’s possible for the county to deliver it.”
Ross Twp. recently asked for its first advance after one of the township’s fire engines was totalled in a crash last year and a replacement for another vehicle was also scheduled. The trustees agreed to buy two trucks for a better deal. The insurance money for totalled truck hasn’t arrived yet.
Governmental agencies are not allowed to post-date checks, so the township needed the $259,667 advance.
“It was a cash flow problem on paper, we know the money is there, it’s just not physically here,” said Township Administrator Bob Bass. “So because it’s not physically here, in order to be able to continue to be able to do business we have to physically get money in here. So we asked the auditor to get it to us a little faster than typical.”
When Liberty Twp. officials were debating their police levy ask last year, Trustee Steve Schramm changed his mind about asking for more than the 3-mill renewal, in part because he discovered the cash advance opportunity. Staff told the trustees there could be a revenue gap between levies.
Schramm said the township hasn’t asked for the early release of funds.
“For whatever reason it appears there’s some kind of a black eye that’s given to townships who ask for early, on the off feeling they don’t manage their money properly,” he said.
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He said he plans to ask his fellow trustees for a policy change so the township can make a request that others use routinely.
“The answer was we wouldn’t make enough money on it to justify it,” Schramm said. “I said, ‘Well, it’s more a matter of principle than it is about money.’ If it’s enough to buy my lunch one day I think we owe it to our folks to get every dime that we can.”
The cash advances are available for both property tax distributions, the recent one in February and the other in August. The taxes for the cities and townships ranged from $45,514 for New Miami to $597,445 to Hamilton.
Middletown received $467,263.
“Since this process only takes a resolution passed by city council,” Middletown Finance Director Jacob Burton said, “it is my opinion that we should always make the request for advances, as it allows the city of Middletown to earn interest on funds that belong to the city instead of waiting until the required distributions are submitted from the county.”
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