By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

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Cincinnati City Council's annual debate over property taxes is about as dependable as the switch from daylight-saving time to standard time.

Every year since 1999, Republicans have pushed to roll back the tax rate to protect taxpayers from an automatic, unvoted increase in homeowners' tax bills.

Most times, they were successful. But a majority quashed the rollback effort in 2002 with a partial rollback that led to small increases in property tax bills. The balance of power on the next City Council, which voters will elect Tuesday, may well determine whether tax cuts continue - and whether city services are cut to pay for them.

Republican incumbent Pat DeWine, who has championed the tax cut since being elected in 1999, said he thinks the annual adjustment doesn't go far enough.

If re-elected, he said, he would introduce a plan to phase out the tax over five years. (City property taxes constitute less than 10 percent of a homeowner's property tax bill, with the remainder going to schools and county agencies.) Across the slate, Republican candidates for City Council have pledged to continue that rollback. Only police and fire would be off limits when looking for budget cuts to offset the reduced taxes, they said.

Most Democrats and Charterites have signed on to the rollback effort, too - but they are more likely to include caveats.

Incumbent Democrats like David Pepper and David C. Crowley, for example, voted this month for a more modest rollback plan than that proposed by Republicans. The Republican plan prevailed.

Pepper said he wants to give more targeted tax relief to senior citizens.

Crowley has derided Republican-led rollback efforts as saving the average homeowner the cost of about two pizzas.

But he said he could commit to continuing the rollback "in the context of each year's budget." The problem with City Council's tax cuts, he said, is that they're divorced from decisions about what programs or services should be cut to pay for them.

In 2004, for example, curbside recycling and the Nature Education Program are on the chopping block. The $1.27 million the city is losing through the rollback could help save those programs, Crowley said.

If the city is going to give big tax breaks to corporations, it should also give tax breaks to homeowners, said Democrat Laketa Cole.

But she also said eliminating the tax entirely is not an option in the near future. "There is obviously some wasteful spending that occurs at City Hall, but not $30 million worth," Cole said.

The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes, as its name implies, makes the tax rollback a key part of its endorsements. Its slate of the most anti-tax candidates includes Republicans DeWine, Tom Jones, Sam Malone, Chris Monzel, Barbara W. Trauth and Pete Witte, and Charterites John Schlagetter and Nick Spencer.

Independent Eric Wilson said it's easy for candidates to promise tax cuts but harder to get them to identify where they would find the money.

"Asking a candidate 'Do you want to raise taxes?' is like asking, 'Do you want to kick puppies?' Of course not," Wilson said.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com