By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Agencies preparing to ask voters to approve tax levies are concerned that Butler County's plan for special taxing districts on new subdivisions could hurt ballot issues and budgets.

"People who hear about the county having $166 million for projects; I don't know how that will affect the voting process," said Jim Mueller, superintendent of the Butler County Board of Mental Retardation & Development Disabilities.

County commissioners Monday announced plans to declare 10 new Liberty Township subdivisions and two Fairfield Township subdivisions as tax-increment financing districts. They did the same Thursday for five unfinished subdivisions in West Chester Township.

Increased tax revenues from those areas, when complete, would be diverted to schools or toward paying for road and infrastructure improvements and a new countywide emergency radio system.

Commissioners said Lakota Schools would receive $80 million over 30 years. But school officials say that the amount was what Lakota - which just eliminated 29 teaching positions for fall after a March levy failure - would have collected in property taxes without the county exemption.

"This should not be portrayed as additional new money to Lakota. This is money that we would normally have gotten if these homes were built, " said Joan Powell, Lakota school board president. "When we have (tax) issues to pass, the public needs to understand that."

Commissioner Michael A. Fox, who proposed the program in Butler, says the county could reap $166 million by diverting the tax-increment payments from every subdivision platted - but not yet built - in just 10 parts of the county.

While commissioners have pledged to give schools their full share of tax receipts otherwise lost in the exemption, they haven't made a similar pledge to other agencies.

And that worries folks at the county Butler County Mental Health board and the Mental Retardation & Development Disabilities board, which are planning tax levies for the November ballot.

"With all that residential growth comes more people, and with more people comes the need for more programs. We need to know what the long-term impact is," said John Staup, Mental Health Board director. He announced Monday that his board will seek renewal of a 10-year, half-mill operating tax levy in November. It would bring in about $2 million annually.

In June, the mental retardation board could decide to seek a 1-mill levy to replace one that expired in December, Mueller said. It would be worth about $7 million a year, he said.

According to the Butler County Auditor's office, all countywide levies "will lose money they would have otherwise received for the new valuation" from those 17 subdivisions, said Randy Groves, chief deputy auditor.

But Fox said those agencies come out far ahead in the long run because of increased tax revenues from commercial and industrial growth from the infrastructure improvements. Short-term losses to those agencies will be "miniscule. It's inconsequential," Fox said.

Monday night, Lakota board members began discussing the county's new subdivision tax districts. The county gave Lakota 14 days to respond to the proposal.

New tax districts

For years, Ohio communities have used tax-increment financing to pay for improvements in an area using anticipated increased tax revenues - the tax increment - from commercial and industrial districts. The tax payments - called "service payments" - go into a special fund, not the general fund.

Butler County Commissioner Michael A. Fox says counties, cities and townships now can also create similar districts for new subdivisions. He says the new subdivisions' homeowners' taxes wouldn't be affected.

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E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com