High property taxes cause concern

PERKINS TWP. — Locals expressed concerns about high property taxes and sought solutions from local and state representatives. More than 100 residents and local officials attended the question-and-answer forum Friday morning at the UAW Hall on Hayes Avenue (Ohio 4) in Perkins Township, Erie County. The forum, co-sponsored by Serving Our Seniors and the Register, is part of an ongoing discussion about how increased property taxes negatively affect seniors and what can be done to address this large-scale issue. Matt Westerhold facilitated the forum alongside Sue Daugherty, who serves as executive director of Serving Our Seniors. It was the second part of an ongoing series titled "Real Estate Tax and Later Life," following up on a forum hosted in November, with Friday's event focusing on what Columbus lawmakers were doing to solve residents' concerns. The nearly hour-and-a-half-long forum is available to view at sanduskyregister.com and on the Register's YouTube channel. The four panelists were: • D.J. Swearingen, state representative for Ohio's 89th House District, which covers Erie County and portions of Ottawa and Huron County • State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green • Rick Jeffrey, Erie County auditor • Caleb Stidham, Erie County treasurer What are some solutions? The four panelists proposed a series of possible solutions to provide relief for seniors adversely affected by high property taxes. Some of the possible solutions include the following: • Swearingen mentioned the creation of a blue ribbon commission assembled by the Erie County commissioners to help identify the root cause of where the money is going and how it could be better spent on essential services like schools, roads and bridges, police, and fire, etc. Are "there resources that we can share and do differently on the local level that make things more affordable and therefore make the tax burden on you, the people, all of us less?" Swearingen said. • Stidham, as well as Swearingen and Jeffrey, expressed the importance of people being actively involved in what is happening locally and knowing where and how money is being spent. "We have over 100 elected officials in Erie County (who) control this money. We can point to these guys and blame them all we want and they do have to do some work to fix the system. But we have choices locally," Stidham said. "Some of the legislation that is being proposed is to further empower the county budget commission — which is myself, auditor Jeffrey and prosecutor Kevin Baxter — to provide a check to make sure that these entities are not over-taxing residents and sitting on large, large sums of money." • Jeffrey suggested that out-of-state real estate developers as well as those who run Airbnb and Vrbo properties, should pay the same lodging taxes as hotels and motels. "Right now, the state of Ohio mandates that when localities at the county level collect lodging tax, that we spend 100% of that on tourism promotion. We have a great local tourism bureau that spends just as much as the state of Ohio on tourism," Stidham said. "Is there a way that we can use the lodging tax, the millions of dollars that our community benefits from, to help the people here?" Pending legislation that could provide relief Gavarone and Swearingen provided a list of possible legislation currently circulating in the House and Senate that, if approved, could offer relief not only to homeowners across the board but, more importantly, to seniors facing the burden of high property taxes. Here is a list of legislation that was mentioned in the forum: • House Bill 156 — This piece of legislation aims to freeze property taxes for those 65 or older as well as people who are "permanently and totally disabled." • House Bill 129 — This would modify two major components of property tax law, including the calculation of the 20-mill floor, which guarantees school districts a certain level of property tax revenue, and would prohibit a school district from shifting the purpose of its unvoted millage in a manner that would increase the district's property tax revenue. • House Bill 124 — This would give more control to the county auditor, allowing them to have more say in housing evaluations. Along with the three aforementioned house bills, Swearingen pointed out that there are additional pieces of legislation concerning the Homestead Exemption, a statewide tax reduction program for seniors, individuals with disabilities, and other qualifying groups who meet a specific income threshold to qualify, as stated on the Ohio Senate website. • House Bill 61 — Referred to as the Homestead and Owner Occupancy Overhaul Act, this would change the exemption for the homestead credit by providing eligible property owners a flat credit amount, potentially doubling the savings for property owners, according to a news release from bill co-sponsors state representatives David Thomas, R-Jefferson and Jack Daniels, R-New Franklin. • House Bill 103 — This aims to update the Homestead Exemption's eligibility threshold while also increasing the amount of the exemption, according to a news release from one of the bill's co-sponsors, state representative Daniel Troy, D-Willowick.