CLEVELAND — In a unanimous vote, members of the Cuyahoga County Council's Budget and Finance Committee voted to keep the county’s current tax rate, instead of lowering it to provide property tax relief.
They discussed a proposal in a Monday meeting that would reduce county revenue to provide the relief.
However, County Treasurer Michael Chambers crunched the numbers and told the committee the proposal would likely hurt the county with minimal benefits for homeowners.
According to Chambers, the move would reduce the county’s revenue by somewhere between $9-$12 million, while only saving property owners an average of $17 to $25 total next year. Beyond that, Chambers says the relief wouldn’t significantly help those who need it the most.
“The people in Cleveland, East Cleveland, the inner ring communities, probably would’ve only gotten, you know, $10, $15, whereas the people in Hunting Valley could have gotten hundreds of dollars, because their properties are valued much more," he said.
In a statement provided to 3News, Cuyahoga County Councilman and Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee Dale Miller wrote:
“The recent reappraisal exacerbated property tax inequities across the county, as the largest valuation increases came in lower income neighborhoods. Therefore, I favor a targeted approach for property tax relief at both the county and state levels. I support the County Executive’s forthcoming program to assist the taxpayers most heavily affected and the two pending property tax relief bills in the State Legislature.
“At the same time, County costs are rising, and we cannot run county government with increasing costs and flat revenue. Therefore, we cannot afford to provide an untargeted general property tax reduction, which would be small in size and help taxpayers whether they need it or not. With these considerations in mind, the Committee voted to keep property tax rates the same and support targeted strategies to provide help where it is most needed.”
The county is continuing to work on targeted relief for seniors.
Chambers says they are finalizing a pilot program they will present to the Council in the next month, which would help those 70 years and older who are making less than $70,000.
“We’re still fine-tuning the details, but it will be direct assistance to help those, especially if they’re delinquent, and then we’ll see how far that goes, and if not, we’ll look at other people that are on the line,” said Chambers.