By Jeremy W. Steele
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - Warren County property owners will get a smaller property tax refund next year, but won't have to worry about an increased fee to sell their real estate.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, commissioners decided the county will keep about 60 percent of a 2.57-mill property tax next year that it has refunded to landowners since 2000. Commissioners said it's necessary to keep 1.5 mills to make up for an anticipated $2 million budget shortfall in 2004.

The change will cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $46 per year that would have been refunded.

But commissioners rejected a proposal to increase the county's real estate transfer tax, now at 3 mills, to 4 mills, which would have made it the highest in Ohio, real estate agents say. The decision brought applause from a small crowd of real estate agents at the meeting.

"I don't want to tax the people anymore than we have to," said Commissioner Larry Crisenbery.

One mill is the equivalent to a $1 tax for each $1,000 of property value, which means the owner of a $200,000 home would have paid $800 instead of $600 to sell that property.

Commissioners Pat South and Mike Kilburn also voted against the increase, although Kilburn had earlier spoken in support of the plan.

"My father taught me you've got to pick your battles," Kilburn said. "I think anything that creates more growth ought to be taxed. That's one way to slow it down."

Butler, Clermont and Hamilton counties also charge a 3-mill property transfer tax.

Opponents said the Warren County fee increase would have been "gouging" property owners.

"You're already paying taxes when you own property and then you'd be paying another tax," said Brad Knapp, executive vice president of Henkle Schueler Realtors and a Warren County resident.

South said the fee increase isn't needed in next year's budget, even though the county expects to make cuts because of declining revenues.

On Tuesday, commissioners approved a $49 million 2004 tax budget, which officials refer to as a "wish list" of county departments. County officials expect to cut that to at most $44 million - the same as the 2003 budget - before finalizing the 2004 budget later this year.

"We're trying to keep our purse strings close to us," South said. "Every single department in Warren County will be asked to live on their 2003 budget."

In other business Tuesday, commissioners allocated more than $1 million in federal funding for county social service programs. Included in that funding was $234,500 for school social workers, $34,000 for a South Lebanon summer youth program and $175,000 for a youth diversion program to reduce juvenile crime.

E-mail jsteele@enquirer.com