Delaware County commissioners move forward with plans to study property-tax rollback

A reduction in property taxes might be in the future for Delaware County property owners.

The Delaware County commissioners on July 28 voted to hold two hearings on the possibility of lowering the property tax assessed by the county government by a yet-undetermined amount.

Battling the effects of inflation and providing benefits to property owners were among the goals cited by commissioners.

The hearings also are to cover possible revision to the county tax code regarding sales tax.

County auditor George Kaitsa told ThisWeek that change would not affect the rate of sales tax collected but would allow the county to pledge sales-tax revenue against future borrowing.

The possible property-tax reduction would affect the county's "inside" millage, which is prescribed by state law and doesn't require approval of voters at the polls, Kaitsa said.

And if that tax is reduced, it wouldn't be something completely new, he said.

A 1-mill reduction to the inside millage has been in effect since 1996, he said. As a result, he said, the county's potential 2.8 mills of inside tax authorized by state law has been collected at only 1.8 mills.

Although dates of the hearings were not mentioned in the July 28 meeting, a schedule of commissioner meetings released later identifies the dates as Aug. 18 and 22, both at 9:45 a.m. in the commissioners' meeting room in the Delaware County Historic Courthouse, 91 N. Sandusky St. in Delaware.

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"Inflation is the most unfair, stealthy and universal tax of all," commissioner Barb Lewis said July 28. "It hurts everyone, and it's not going away anytime soon. For several months, we commissioners have been concerned about inflation's growing impacts on Delaware County. ... With the passage of today's resolution, we will soon be hopefully providing taxpayer relief in Delaware County."

Kaitsa told the commissioners July 28 that he supports the property-tax reduction to provide some tax relief to county taxpayers.

Providing tax relief by reducing the sales tax, by comparison, would be a process too cumbersome to undertake, he said, adding that such a potential reduction could, under state regulations, take effect only at the beginning of a calendar quarter.

Additionally, every point-of-sale cash register in the entire county would have to be recalibrated, he said.

Also, considering that inflation has reduced discretionary spending, the county would have no assurance a sales-tax reduction could match the effect of a property-tax cut, Kaitsa said.

"The property-tax reduction will benefit all property owners in Delaware County, and hopefully, that reduction will be passed on to the tenants of rental property by their landlords," Kaitsa told the commissioners.

The county has no authority to force landlords to pass any savings on to tenants, he told ThisWeek.

"Hopefully, landlords will be able to avoid the need for any rent increases as a result of receiving the property-tax reduction. If the property-tax reduction is adopted, we plan to send a notice to all property owners regarding the property-tax reduction, rather than just to landlords," he said.

Kaitsa told ThisWeek the main change to the county tax code would be one that exempts the sales tax from any voter referendum. Once that's in place, he said, sales tax would be available for future borrowing, typically done for capital-improvement projects.

Commissioner Gary Merrell on July 28 said the rollback is an opportunity for the commissioners to represent all property owners in the county.

"I think this is the right time to do something like this, and the purpose of the hearing is to have an open conversation and determine exactly what we could or should do," he said,

Commissioner Jeff Benton said, "Our property owners ... pay taxes, and we have an opportunity to reduce that a little bit, and that should help."

He also said the two hearings are needed to determine the figures and timing possible regarding the rollback.

"Yes, our revenues have been growing, but we have significant capital commitments and plans for the future,” Benton said. “Whether it's roads or the (county's) Byxbe Campus or (sanitary) sewer expansion, we've got significant ... hundreds of millions of dollars of capital spending planned in the coming years. So we have to be very careful as we analyze these revenue streams and take a look.”

He also endorsed the planned change to the tax code, saying, "We can actually use it to strengthen the county's AAA bond rating, which is already at the highest, but this enables us to be even more flexible and add to the strength so we can continue to maintain a triple-A rating."

Kaitsa told ThisWeek the state allows Delaware County to charge a 1.5% sales tax, but the county has never charged more than 1.25%.

"We have no interest in raising (the sales tax)," Merrell said July 28. "We have an interest in living within our means, and we take that very seriously."

In addition to the 1-mill property-tax rollback in effect since 1996, Kaitsa told ThisWeek, the county had an additional 0.8-mill rollback in effect for tax year 2008 that was not renewed the following year.

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Delaware County commissioners move ahead with property-tax rollback study