BUTLER COUNTY FIGHTS BACK ON PROPERTY TAX INCREASES  

70-year-old Carol Monahan retired 10 years ago from Procter and Gamble and enjoys the views from her lakefront home and tight knit community in Fairfield.  

But in 2023, residents in Butler County saw huge spikes in their property taxes, and many began to question their ability to stay in their home.  Several homeowners wrote letters to the Butler County Treasurer expressing their concerns, including Monahan. 

“Is there any possibility that us older people, 70 and older, can get a break on these taxes? I don’t want to have to sell my house that I love and move somewhere less desirable,” wrote Monahan.   

77-year-old Patricia Thomas, who is on a fixed income wrote, “My husband as well as all our friends are being stripped of our life savings. We have all worked our whole lives for our home…We don’t get raises in our old age of 70’s.”  

89-year-old Juanita Thieken expressed that she has to really budget to pay 28% of her income on property taxes.  “We never get credit for depreciation. My home is old and will need much work to bring it up to what the taxes says it is worth,” noted Thieken.  

For homeowners, property taxes are just one of many rising bills to maintain a home. Other rising costs include home insurance, energy bills, and home repairs.   

Currently Monahan pays around $6,400 a year in property taxes but is weighing various factors. “If they get up to 7,000, 7,500 a year, I probably will re-look at some things,” says Monahan.  

HOUSING CRISIS CREATES PERFECT STORM  

The impact of COVID-19 and the shortage of housing helped create a perfect storm the Butler County commissioners saw coming. Commissioner Don Dixon, who has over 30 years’ experience under his belt, was used to dustups regarding county finances.  

In 2007 and 2008 Dixon went through a few rounds with the state tax commissioner. “That’s when we were having a lot of foreclosures and interest rates were bouncing all around, but foreclosures were through the roof,” said Dixon.   

“It was a battle between his department and us, the county. And we ended up getting probably about 80,000 parcels reduced when he said it couldn’t happen.”  

BUTLER COUNTY AHEAD OF THE CURVE  

Because Butler County is an earlier phase to get their property reassessments done, which occur every three years, they were seeing over 30% increases before other counties and began sounding the alarm bells.   

 “You can’t take a 35% real estate increase in any kind of business and not damage the business or put you out of business or be a lot of people laid off,” warned Dixon.   

Butler County Commissioners tried convincing commissioners in other counties of the impact of the pending spike. “These people once they find out they’re going to get the pitchforks out, I mean there’ not going to sit here and just take this. They can’t,” exclaimed Dixon.  

The Butler County Commissioner put together Property Tax Reform Summits and spent hours on the phone with legislators and trips to Columbus, but it didn’t get enough traction for change.  

Dixon was frustrated when he testified in Columbus to the lawmakers.  “I said, ‘Look, I’m going to tell you guys something. You don’t seem to take this seriously, but one day if you don’t fix this, they will fix it.’”    

After legislative efforts stalled, the commissioners in Butler County decided to take up the reins. This past fall they gave unprecedented tax breaks payable in 2026. One was a one-year $12.5 million tax rollback, as well as a doubling of the homestead exemption for the 19,000 eligible seniors and disabled homeowners. 

“So we have worked very hard to be able to accumulate enough cash that we can run nine months without any funding from anybody. We can run nine months,” asserted Dixon.    

HOMESTEAD EXEMPTIONS IN OHIO 

For other Ohio counties doubling the homestead exemptions would not work since many do not have a cash reserve. Karl Keith is the auditor for Montgomery County. 

“You got 88 counties in Ohio,  and I think only nine have chosen to go that route… the voters voted to spend those dollars on schools or on parks or the library. They didn’t vote to spend those monies giving someone a tax break. And so I think it’s a little bit inappropriate. And again, in different counties, it’s a bigger burden than others,” explained Keith.  

But Dixon admits that this isn’t a one size fits all solution, and that real change in legislation needs to happen.  “It’s a Band-Aid. .. But we can only do that so long only because we’ve got an economic development program that throws off enough returns as far as sales tax and real estate taxes that we can afford to do that. A lot of these counties are going day to  day, they can’t. So no, it’s not a fix all forever. There needs, the whole thing needs to be reconsidered and reworked.” 

Auditor Keith thinks we need a progressive tax solution. Keith believes property taxes are regressive in the sense that they put greater burdens on those who can least afford it, whereas income taxes are progressive because they are based on ability to pay. “No matter if my income is $50,000 or $250,000, we’re paying the same tax if we’re living in the same community,” says Keith, who hopes to see more of this kind of discussion in the future.  

Monahan would like to see other efforts as well. “Places should look at maybe figuring out ways to cut budget so that it’s not always falling on the homeowners…I knew what property taxes were when I built the house, but it just keeps continuing on and on. And not just for me, I’m talking about for other people who are retired, and people have had to sell their homes and move downsize and things.” 

Monahan wants to stay put in the home she built 20 years ago. “I love my house and I don’t want to go through the hassle of having to move again.”  

Thank you for reading this article. We want to hear from you! Your feedback continually helps us to improve our coverage of local stories. Please let us know what you think about property taxes and what Butler County Commissioners are doing.

Emiko M. TTV Bio Code

Emiko Moore – Multi-Media Journalist

Emiko Moore is a graduate of Ohio State University has been a freelance producer for NBC News for the last 20 years, covering stories in southwest Ohio and in the tri-state area. She also hosted The Lebanon City Show and was a print journalist for the Western Star, focusing on Warren County. Prior to moving back to her hometown of Lebanon, OH, she worked in NYC for NBC TODAY and NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation. As a volunteer with Building Bridges Community Conversations, Ishinomaki Playground Project, and Miller Ecological Park, she believes it takes continuous work to strengthen communities. She is excited about journalism that explores the issues while highlighting solutions to bring about positive change.