Montgomery has highest number of tax levies on ballot

DAYTON — Montgomery County has more tax levies on the ballot next week than any other county in the state, Ohio Secretary of State records show.

The county has 17 property tax levies on the May 4 ballot, one more than Cuyahoga County, the largest county in the state. Of those, eight are school levies and the rest are township issues replacing, renewing or adding to existing levies.

“It’s tough to look at these days,” said Chuck Henthorn, 62, of Washington Twp. “We as concerned citizens find ourselves taxed in a multitude of arenas and we do not feel our political structures are tuned in to fiscal responsibility.”

Montgomery County’s 92 taxing districts have 277 levies on the books today, 18 more than a decade ago, according to county Auditor Karl Keith’s office. The total effective millage, or net tax rate, for homeowners and agricultural land owners has grown 25 percent over that time.

Some say the number of levy requests next week — 431 statewide — reflects a fractured system of local government and education, one that’s inefficient, costly and confusing to voters.

“Because there are so many of these jurisdictions, (voters) really don’t know what the priorities are, especially now in this environment — people are a little bit cranky, they’re tightening their belts and they’re wondering if they can afford another tax increase,” said Mark Partridge, an Ohio State University economics professor who studies rural and urban issues.

Partridge advocates a regional approach to government, where there’s greater collaboration and less competition among neighboring communities for jobs and development, tax dollars and services. Such a system could lead to more accountability, too, he said.

“When there’s too much local government, no one’s really accountable; no one knows who to blame when things go wrong or who to credit when things go right,” he said.

Partridge’s views are shared by researchers from the Brookings Institution and the Greater Ohio Policy Center, two pro-urban think tanks that issued a report in February entitled, Restoring Prosperity: Transforming Ohio’s Communities for the Next Economy.

The report found Ohio has some 3,800 local government units, including 250 cities, 695 villages and 1,308 townships. The state has a total local government payroll 10 percent above the national average and it has the ninth-highest local tax burden in the country, compared with the 34th highest for state taxes.

All of which is “undercutting our ability to be economically competitive,” said Lavea Brachman, Greater Ohio’s co-director.

“We have a preference for local service delivery and that’s understandable, but it’s not sustainable these days,” Brachman said Monday, April 26.

On the school side, Greater Ohio and Brookings say the state needs to cut the number of school districts it has by a third to around 400. “We’re 47th in the nation in terms of spending that goes to instruction and ninth (for spending) that goes to administration,” Brachman said. “That really raises questions about where is this additional funding going, is it contributing to quality in the classroom.”

Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley said levies are here to stay “as long as we have schools that are funded by property taxes.” But there’s a potential for fewer levies overall, he said, if the state can help local governments can find ways to work together instead of against each other for jobs and revenue. He said that’s the task of the Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration, of which he is a member.

“We’re trying to say, ‘Are there better ways to do local taxation to drive economic development and reduce negative competition?’ ” Foley said.

A report is due in July.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@

DaytonDailyNews.com.