The village’s requests are coming on the heels of historic property value hikes that in turn prompted sizeable tax hikes. The average tax increase in the village was 20%. Mayor Jewel Hensley told the Journal-News they know the timing isn’t ideal but the funds are needed.
“I feel like the village has been at a standstill for years and has kind of been on a decline,” Hensley said. “We’ve just got to get in front of things and pull it back up and make this village better than it’s ever been. We can do that, it’s just going to take a lot of work, a lot of planning, a lot of working together and it’s going to take the community getting behind us and supporting us in our efforts to move forward.”
Property values soared into double digits in counties undergoing the triennial update in 2023 and the average jump for Butler County was 37%. The state tax commissioner put heavy emphasis on property sales from 2022 when the market was out-of-whack with post-COVID-19 influences. Taxes in most areas haven’t risen to the same degree as the values but the increases in some places were hefty.
Lemon Twp. is asking for new money, precisely to take advantage of the property value hikes, according to Trustee Joe Routson. They are asking voters to replace their 3.8-mill fire levy, which would increase taxes by around $54 up to $133 per $100,000 of property value.
“We chose a replacement levy because our previous fire and EMS levy was based on the home values from five years ago,” he said. “So since home values have gone up quite a bit the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office suggested we may want to do a replacement instead of a renewal, that would capture the new values.”
He said next year will be the 10th year of the levy that pays the cost to contract fire services with the city of Monroe. According to the county auditor’s office the current levy generates $119,755 and the replacement would cull $159,700 annually. He said they were told the fire department’s costs have gone up but the township hasn’t been charged more, because “we give them everything we have, we don’t have anything extra.”
“We thought it would be good to have the flexibility so if the city of Monroe does need more to provide the same service or possibly new services or new equipment, something that would help the fire and EMS to better do their job, that’s what we thought would be a good thing for the township,” Routson said.
College Corner wants to renew their 7-mill police levy and cost will remain $151 per $100,000 and produce $15,970 annually. Likewise Ross Twp. is asking for a 2.75-mill renewal so the cost will stay at $56.34 per $100,000, it collects $546,910.
Ross Twp. Fiscal Officer Julie Joyce-Smith told the Journal-News they decided now was not the time to burden their taxpayers further with another increase.
“For right now we are okay with maintaining the status quo, not to say we couldn’t use more funds by replacing it,” she said. “But on the heels of that property tax increase I don’t think anyone wanted to have that conversation. It’s like people are still trying to figure it out, I think it (the value increase) averaged 38% in Ross, that increase was large and I think everyone felt it across the board. This was just not the time.”
There are other levies on the ballot that will impact multiple taxpayers, like the countywide mental health board request and asks by the two library systems. Individuals can find their exact tax situation on the auditor’s website.
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