BEAVERCREEK — Beavercreek residents will be voting on an income tax in November.
City council Monday unanimously passed a resolution placing a 1 percent income tax on the ballot. If the income tax is approved by voters, it will begin Jan. 1, 2022 and a 3.4 mill property tax levy for streets that expires Dec. 31, 2021 would not be renewed providing property tax relief, according to wording of the city’s tax code.
Bill Kucera, financial administrative services director, said at previous meeting that passage of the tax could reduce the number of levies the city seeks in the future and could help fund a backlog of infrastructure and capital improvement projects.
“I really can’t think of a more democratic thing to do than to provide the ability for the citizens to decide for themselves how our local government is funded,” council member Pete Bales said. “That’s all this legislation is doing is determining that we can putting it on the ballot.”
Bales said the city needs an alternative revenue source to fund infrastructure needs.
Council members Joanna Garcia and Tiffany Schwartz said they were concerned about placing an income tax on the ballot because of the financial effects COVID-19 is having. But both agreed that it’s in the best interest of the community to ask citizens to decide.
Mayor Bob Stone said November is the best time for it to be on the ballot because of the large voter turnout expects.
“It is the time and I think the more people that have their voices heard, the better off we’re going to understand what the public wants, whether it’s a yes or whether it’s a no,” he said. “I think it’s a straight forward plan.”
The city will provide a credit up to 1 percent for residents who pay income taxes elsewhere and there are myriad exemptions including military pay, Social Security benefits, unemployment, child support/alimony, and intangible income such as income yield, interest, capital gains, dividends or income arising from ownership, sale, exchange or other disposition of intangible property.
The city has tried three previous times to enact a property tax, the last coming in 2013.
Vice Mayor Don Adams said education will be a big part of the election process, adding that Beavercreek is 40 years old and like most things, with age comes the need for repairs.
“We have to have money to repair it,” he said. “I don’t want to see Beavercreek fall apart.”
Adams said there are some things out there “that can’t be touched with any other tax base” the city receives.
