And the amount paid by county property owners could get higher next year as a mix of 12 new and renewal levies will appear on the November election ballot.
The auditor’s office said there are other reasons that have contributed to the increase including higher property values now than when the country was recovering from the Great Recession.
The extra money means more than $1 billion was disbursed to Montgomery County jurisdictions, Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith said. The disbursements were from property taxes and other tax relief programs provided through the state like homestead exemptions.
The Montgomery County Treasurer is responsible for collecting taxes and the Montgomery County Auditor is responsible for evaluating properties and disbursing the collected revenue.
“Property tax collection was excellent. The process went incredibly smoothly and we’re really excited about that,” Montgomery County Treasurer John McManus said. “I will say that the property tax collection process is enormously complex. The sheer amount of money that this county collects in property taxes requires a great deal of hard work and focus from not just the staff in this office, but in the auditor’s office as well.”
Property taxes collected in 2022 is expected to increase by about 2% from 2021 when $920 million was collected, according to data from the treasurer’s office. In 2020, $870 million was collected and in 2019 $847 million was paid. McManus said there is a third collection period his office will undergo to try to get any missing payments, as well as a tax lien sale to recover some delinquent dollars. Those figures could increase the overall 2022 sum.
Property taxes are not popular, Keith said, but the money benefits services here locally. More than 57 cents of every property tax dollar in the county goes to local schools, Keith said.
“None of it goes to Washington, none of it goes to Columbus,” Keith said. “It all stays right here in our community.”
The auditor tax revenue data shows Centerville School District received about $103 million, Dayton Schools got about $95 million, and Kettering School District received a little more than $90 million, according to the auditor. Meanwhile, Washington Twp. got about $30.5 million in property tax revenue, while the City of Dayton and Miami Twp. saw about $23 million and $20.8 million respectively, the auditor’s office said.
Keith said the human services and disability services levies generated $138 million this year. The money goes to things like children’s services, public health and addiction services, he said.
Whether the pandemic was going to impact people paying their taxes was something that was closely monitored, McManus said. There were programs to help people pay property taxes who were impacted by COVID-19, but for the most part, it wasn’t an issue.
“I think it’s obviously a reality across the country that folks are having more trouble making ends meet these days. So it’s important that we recognize that, but, as the numbers show, it was a successful property tax collection,” McManus said.
He said there’s been an increase in residents paying their bills online, which may be because of the pandemic.
“I want to thank and recognize the property owners in Montgomery County, not just residential, but also commercial and industrial as well for meeting their obligations,” he said. “That’s critically important. I recognize that paying one’s property taxes for so many in our community is a tremendous sacrifice. Property taxes are not an insignificant expense.”
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