Wednesday, October 06, 1999

City tax plan nears a vote

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Rollback wins key support

BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        A planned Cincinnati property tax rollback apparently has the support necessary to pass City Council as early as today.

        With an expected increase in city property values next year, Councilman Phil Heimlich has proposed a tax rollback to prevent an increase in the city portion of a landowner's tax bill.

        Despite proposing an opposing plan, Councilman Todd Portune said Tuesday night he will support the rollback option. He called it the best alternative, considering his own plan would likely cost $725,000 to pull off.

        “I've always said I will vote for Mr. Heimlich's plan, unless there was a better plan,” Mr. Portune said.

        While he says his proposed credit to the earnings tax would benefit all city taxpayers, not just property owners, the costs to do it were a roadblock.

        Mr. Heimlich said he will try to get council members to vote on the rollback at this afternoon's meeting. At least one council member, Minette Cooper, is pushing for a public hearing first.

        “The public has an interest in this,” Ms. Cooper said. But if Mr. Heimlich has the votes necessary today, the hearing obviously wouldn't be needed, she said.

        “We've been working on this the past 4¹/₂ months, there is no reason it can't go forward,” Mr. Heimlich said.

        City properties are being reappraised and past estimates have put the value increase at about 7 percent, a tax bill in crease of about $14 for the owner of a $90,000 home. On Tuesday, a report by City Manager John Shirey said property values may actually rise 11 percent.

        Mr. Heimlich proposed rolling back the 6.1 mills Cincinnati gets for operating purposes to a millage that would keep the total tax revenue collected the same. If property values rose 7 percent, for example, that figure would be about 5.68 mills.

        When the plan came up to vote in June, Mr. Heimlich could muster only four of the five votes needed for it to pass. Mr. Heimlich won over Councilman Paul Booth, who voted against the rollback in June but last week announced his support to give taxpayers a break.

        But Mr. Portune, one of the original backers, got into a public quarrel with the tax-reform group Coalition Opposed to Additional Taxes and Spending (COAST), which has been pushing for the rollback.

        Mr. Portune filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission on Sept. 22 saying that COAST distorted his record on the rollback issue in a postcard campaign. The elections commission threw out the complaint.

        Along with Councilwoman Jeanette Cissell, Mr. Portune developed a tax credit plan that would apply to all city earnings taxpayers. On Tuesday, Mr. Shirey said that option would not be easy.

        Most city taxpayers are not required to file a Cincinnati tax form because the money is withheld by their employers. Gathering information about each person's eligibility for the income tax credit, though, would require them to file such tax returns.

        The city does not have the resources to audit the nearly 200,000 tax forms it would then receive, Mr. Heimlich said.

        It would cost nearly $750,000 to process the returns, the city manager's report said. Mr. Heimlich's rollback, by comparison, would require minimal costs.

       

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