Summit County voters will see a question on their ballots this November asking them to allow the county more control of its mill levies to keep property tax rates higher than the state currently allows.
In a special meeting Thursday, Aug. 13, the Summit Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted to approve a resolution to add the ballot question, which aims to prevent Summit County from losing more than $5.5 million in revenue in 2022.
Due to the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus pandemic, residential property values have risen higher than nonresidential values. As a result, the state’s preliminary residential assessment percentage has fallen from 7.15% to 5.88%, which is done to maintain the 45-55 ratio of residential to nonresidential property put in place by the Gallagher Amendment to the state’s Constitution. The anticipated decrease in property tax rates will lead to a revenue shortfall on a local level.
While the commissioners supported the ballot question, there are some members of the community who feel it’s not the people’s role to make up for revenue losses at the government level.
Summit County Republicans Chairman Mike Tabb said he believes “the county is jumping the gun” on the issue because a state resolution to repeal Gallagher is also on the ballot.
“At some point, they need to do a better job at budgeting the resources given to them,” he said.
Tabb said the increases in the general fund budget since 2018 show that the county instead should respond to the revenue shortfall by looking at changes that can be made at the government level. The expenditures budgeted for general fund in 2020 — $46.5 million — is about 37% higher than the expenditures in 2018, according to the county’s 2020 budget.
