CLEVELAND, Ohio– Cuyahoga County has largely dismissed options to collect fewer taxes to save residents money, but individual communities still can.
North Olmsted is considering it.
The city is expected to collect an additional $2.4 million next year due to the higher appraisals, data provided by Cuyahoga County’s Fiscal Office shows. However, North Olmsted’s Finance Director Carrie Copfer said the extra collections are actually expected to be closer to $1.8 million, factoring out TIF portions and about 5% of residents that don’t pay and become delinquent.
Regardless of the amount, some on North Olmsted’s City Council believe the city can make do without a portion of it, if it means helping residents out a bit. Chris Glassburn, who chairs North Olmsted City Council’s Finance Committee, recently proposed collecting only a third of the extra funds the city is expected to bring in.
To do that, he’s asking the city to reduce 0.3 of its total 8.3 outside mills for the general fund, which Copfer says would mean foregoing about $326,000 in city revenue. That money would instead stay in the pockets of residents, averaging about $21 in savings for a person with a $200,000 home value, she said. The average home value in North Olmsted is about $250,000.
The city would never increase property taxes 30% without first taking it to residents for a vote, Glassburn argued in the finance committee, “but that’s functionally what happened” during the reappraisal. He took the issue to the full council for a vote.
“The city faces any number of challenges, but unvoted tax increases of 29% is not the solution to those problems,” he told his colleagues before voting yes for tax reduction.
A split council
His colleagues were divided.
Councilmembers Mark Madden and Mary Ellen Hemman voted with Glassburn in favor of the lower rates. The relief in dollars may be small for some residents, Hemman justified, but “I am of the belief that any relief to residents is better than no relief.”
Councilmembers Mary Gilchrist, Paul Shymske and Duane Limpert voted in favor of collecting taxes in full to protect the city’s general fund after the finance director warned about “uncertainties” in the city’s budget.
Copfer said the general fund was down $1.5 million in 2023 and was behind again, as of June of this year, with many new burdens on the horizon, including higher salaries and road construction costs. Residents also have the option to contest their new valuations at the county’s Board of Revision to reduce their taxes, which would mean less revenue for the city.
Instead, she recommended North Olmsted keep the money and use it toward paying down $10 million in debt, purchasing school property, addressing aquatics needs at the recreation center or starting “a true revolving home loan repair fund” to help residents improve their homes.
“I don’t think it’s financially prudent to reduce it,” she said of the city’s tax rates. “(The money) can have a bigger impact here.”
Limpert agreed, proposing to use the windfall in a way that benefits all residents. Shymske, who said he was “conflicted,” ultimately sided with Copfer.
“No one wants to raise taxes, but no one wants to be responsible for cutting services,” Shymske said to justify his vote.
There was no public comment about the issue. Clevleand.com reached out to Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones for comment.
The council will continue debating the reduction at 7 p.m. on Tuesday during the Finance Committee, with a special council meeting to follow where members are expected to have a final vote. The deadline to certify the tax rates is Sept. 30.
Other communities
Certifying the annual tax rates is usually perfunctory. Municipalities always collect the full amount.
But this year, a county-wide property appraisal sent home values soaring an average of 32% across the county, which is raising taxes for many who were already struggling amid high inflation. That was good news for cities, though, which are expecting to see their revenues increase – providing residents pay their tax bills.
Some communities are deciding now how to spend the windfall. But others, like North Olmsted – and briefly, the county at large – are pausing to consider letting residents keep some of the surplus.
It’s too late for communities that have already certified their tax rates. The county recently reported at least six of 58 cities, villages and townships have locked in their rates. Some of them include Parma Heights, Westlake and Brook Park, which is still recovering from the August storm that blew the roof off of its recreation center.
But that means the majority of communities still have an opportunity to consider their options.
Glassburn, who is currently running for state representative, said he didn’t want to waste North Olmsted’s chance.
He initially sought to give back half of the $1.8 million, but did not receive enough support. He said he proposed the lower 0.3 mills reduction as a compromise to provide residents some immediate relief now, while communities wait to see if further relief might come from the state.
Several bills are moving through the state legislature now that would freeze taxes for some seniors, limit the share of a person’s income that can go toward property taxes and expand exemptions to give more residents a break.
North Olmsted’s expenses are going up, Glassburn acknowledged, and state funding has been going down – by about $1.3 million annually since 2014, he noted in a letter to his colleagues. But that doesn’t mean taxpayers should shoulder more of the bill, he said.
“Residents are asking for relief from these increases,” Glassburn wrote. “It is my belief that we could (cut the increase) and still collect the funds necessary to pay our bills.”
