County commissioners approve property tax relief measures

The Miami County commissioners, on Oct. 28, approved two property tax relief measures in an action county Auditor Matt Gearhardt called “the right thing to do.”

Commission President Ted Mercer said the county’s strong financial position helped make the relief possible. “It’s only right that we take this action to give our taxpayers some relief. Our team is committed to continuing to provide high level public services our residents expect,” Mercer said. Two measures were approved:

- To reduce the county general fund inside millage. This will freeze the county inside millage at the tax year 2024 levels, which commissioners said will allow taxpayers to avoid a significant unvoted increase in property tax revenue for the upcoming year. The reduction is from 2.40 mills to 1.88 mills for tax year 2025, payable in 2026. This means the county will not receive more than $2.2 million in unvoted tax revenue.

- The county also will enact the Local Option Homestead Exemption allowed by the Ohio Revised Code. The county estimated that this will save $2.9 million for those enrolled in the program. Gearhardt said this measure would bring those in the general Homestead program average annual tax savings from $379 to around $750. The county has approximately 7,000 property owners enrolled in the homestead program. Disabled veterans and/or surviving spouses would see savings rise from $763 to approximately $1,500 a year. With this action, tax levies tied to overall county government purposes will forgo more than $450,000, the commissioners said.

Commissioner Wade Westfall thanked Gearhardt and his staff, along with the county budget commission – Gearhardt, Treasurer Jim Stubbs, and Prosecutor Paul Watkins -for preparing the measures for approval.

“Together, these actions show that Miami County’s leaders can govern with both fiscal discipline and compassion – putting people first while keeping government strong, efficient and responsive,” Westfall said.

“Today’s actions truly reflect what good government looks like – responsible balance and focused on the people we serve,” said Commissioner Greg Simmons.

The commissioners also encouraged other government agencies to reduce their millage.

Gearhardt said Miami County would be the third county in the state to enact this local homestead option, but added several other counties are looking at similar action.

In his remarks, Gearhardt said that with the residential values going up on average 28 percent, his office is estimating over all political subdivisions that have inside tax millage or because of school districts that are at the 20-mill floor could see in excess of $20 million in a spike in unvoted property tax increases across the county if rates are not looked at and adjusted. Of that total, about $15 million is because of schools being at the 20-mill floor, he said.

His office and the budget commission will be providing recommendations to other political subdivisions, including the school districts that are facing the large unvoted spikes of property tax revenues. “Hopefully, they will work with us to take action to reduce millage to forgo this large amount, to keep money in folks’ pockets,” Gearhardt said.