By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati City Council decided to split the difference Wednesday, giving homeowners less of a tax break than some members wanted, more than some thought prudent.

Council, with an eye to a looming deficit, voted 6-3 for a tax rollback that would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $14 more a year. Without any rollback, the same owner would owe $18 more.

During almost three hours of debate Wednesday, City Council found itself caught between two competing political objectives: satisfying residents who are leaving the city at the rate of thousands a year, and reducing a $35 million budget deficit.

Proponents of the larger rollback said it would reward homeowners who have stayed in the city, and enforce some budget discipline on a free-spending City Council.

Opponents said a $3.2 million cut in tax revenue would come at the expense of valuable programs - perhaps recreation centers, police officers or programs for youth and seniors.

The vote came with no small amount of political suspense. The vote count was 4-4 going into Wednesday's council meeting, with Paul Booth publicly undecided on an issue that will undoubtedly be a campaign issue a year from now.

As he read from a three-page handwritten speech, it became clear the tax cut would fail.

"I have spent many hours agonizing over the decision we face today," he began. "Not because I have been trying to determine what would be `politically correct' or what would win the most votes, but more importantly, what to the best of my knowledge would most benefit our citizens. ... While I have supported tax rollbacks in the past, the challenges we face today cause me to look at it differently."

With his vote, Councilman Pat DeWine's proposal to freeze tax rates failed. Minette Cooper, David Crowley, David Pepper and James R. Tarbell also voted against it.

The city's charter allows City Council to pass a tax of no more than 6.1 mills, which doesn't flow through directly to tax bills because of changes in property values.

For more than 50 years, City Council enacted the full 6.1 mills. In 1999, then-Councilman Phil Heimlich proposed that the rate be rolled back so that homeowners wouldn't pay more as property values rise.

The tax rate is now at 5.4 mills. Mr. DeWine's proposal would have rolled it back to 4.8 mills; Mr. Pepper's proposal, which he dubbed the "responsible rollback," will roll it back to 5.27 mills.

Mr. DeWine, Councilman Chris Monzel and Mr. Tarbell voted against the Pepper proposal - the first two because the cut did not go far enough, the third because it went too far.

The more modest rollback will add less than $1 million to the projected 2003 deficit. To help balance the budget and still provide tax relief to homeowners, Mr. Pepper presented two other proposals that could close the deficit:

A so-called "jock tax," which would kill the earnings tax exemption that visiting athletes and performers enjoy.

A proposed tax credit for homeowners that would kick in only if the city expects a $2.5 million revenue surplus.

City Council referred both ideas for further study Wednesday. "The `jock tax' goes beyond just the jocks," said Vice Mayor Alicia Reece, who called for a public hearing on the plan. Entertainers from Jazz Festival musicians to Verne Troyer ("Mini-Me"), who appeared as grand marshal at Oktoberfest, would also have to pay the 2.1 percent earnings tax, she said.

"We just passed one of the highest hotel tax rates in the country," Ms. Reece said. "I'm not going to give a tool to the boycott promoters by giving performers one more reason not to come to the city of Cincinnati."

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com