Springdale Earnings Tax Proposal

Starting at the 11/21 City Council meeting City Administration along with the Council Finance Committee raised a concern about ongoing budget shortfalls.

Some details shared:

  • Recent Annual General Funds (Budgets) for Springdale (Approximate in Millions):
    • 2007: $ 21.3
    • 2008: $ 19.7
    • 2009: $ 17.8
    • 2010: $ 16.4
    • 2011: $ 16.1
    • 2012: $ 16.7
    • 2013: $ 17.2
    • 2014: $ 16.5
    • 2015: $ 17.3
    • 2016: $ 20.6
    • 2017: $ 18.5
    • 2018: $ 18.3
  • The State of Ohio suspended its Local Government Fund (where a portion of taxes paid to the State are dispersed back to local governments to deliver services closer to where folks live.  This accounts for ~ $ 700,000 annually.  Combined with the elimination of Estate Taxes which city share was around $ 950,000 annually.
  • The City aims to carryover (year to year) funds at least $ 1.5 Million (7.5%); State Auditors recommend ~ $ 2 Million (10%).  2018 to 2019 carryover will be closer to $ 1 Million (5%).
  • In 2018 revenues were ~ $ 1 Million below spending; the current 2019 Budget shows a $ 1.3 Million shortfall.

In short the current path is not sustainable due largely to items outside our control.  The City has over the years deferred significant maintenance items and continues to look for ways to reduce costs.  Those tend to be short term fixes and often can lead to larger costs over all long term.

Currently the vast majority of revenue to fund city services comes through earnings taxes:

  • Earnings taxes accounts for ~95% of City revenue.
  • The current City tax rate of 1.5% was set in 2004.
  • Springdale is 1 of 32 communities in Hamilton County that levies an earnings tax.  14 are higher than our rate.  11  do not give full credit to taxes paid to other communities.

The short of it is the City Administration has requested a rate increase of 0.5% to be put to the voters at the next election to deal with the ongoing shortfall, get caught up on deferred maintenance, and to maintain services we have all come to count on.

The issue continues to be up for discussion at the next several Council meetings.  Your thoughts and questions are very much welcome.

 


What do you think?  Let your elected officials know!

email and phone numbers of all your City Council members are online – https://www.springdale.org/city-council/page/meet-your-city-council

and

City Administration as well –
https://www.springdale.org/mayor-clerk-council

or

Connect with your Neighbors –

https://www.facebook.com/groups/333111242219243


Related Links

Note – on July 31, 2023 Springdale released a new website and previous links were not maintained as well as many minutes and agendas offline.

Past Minutes and Agendas: https://www.springdale.org/meetings/recent
Upcoming meetings: https://www.springdale.org/meetings
Request Public Records: https://www.springdale.org/living-springdale/page/public-records-access

 

 

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