City of Beavercreek 1% Income Tax to be on Ballot in November 2020
Beavercreek City Council unanimously approved resolution 20-17 approving the placement of a 1% income tax on the November 2020 ballot at their July 27th meeting. An income tax proposal was presented to city council by a resident group in February 2020, which had been researching and meeting for over a year prior. If approved by the voters, the 1% income tax would not become effective until January 1, 2022. Property taxes would also be immediately reduced by letting a voted 3.4 mills street levy expire on December 31, 2021.
City Council member Pete Bales stated, “I really can’t think of a more democratic thing to do than provide the ability for our citizens to decide for themselves how our local government is funded.” I’ve said all along that Beavercreek desperately needs an alternative revenue source to fund our infrastructure needs and this legislation gives our constituents the ability to cast their vote to fundamentally change how our city is funded.”
Over the past several years, City Council has established a long-term financial strategy to ensure the fundamental foundation and stabilization of the City’s revenue sources. The discussions centered around stabilizing our property taxes, diversifying revenue sources and developing a long-term strategy of addressing increasing operational costs and the backlog of capital infrastructure.
The resident led proposal addressed each element of the financial strategy. “I think it’s a straight forward plan,” said Mayor Bob Stone. “It is the right 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. We are going to have the largest turnout at the Presidential election.”
If approved, the 1% income tax will reduce city property taxes for all city property owners, provides a 100% credit to Beavercreek residents for city taxes that are paid (up to 1%) to other cities, exempts retirement, social security and active military pay, and captures income taxes from everyone working within the city limits. It is estimated that 75% of the workforce in Beavercreek are non-residents. If the income tax is passed, those dollars from non-residents would be captured by Beavercreek to help fund city services and immediately reduce current city property taxes and will help to avoid the need for future levies.
The City of Beavercreek is one of only four cities without an income tax in Ohio. Beavercreek has very little in common with the other three cities, which are much smaller in population and actual size of infrastructure. Today, the City is the 3rd largest city by population in the region, 3rd to only Dayton and Kettering. Beavercreek is also now the 22nd largest city by population in Ohio. By land size, Beavercreek is the 2nd largest city in the region with 27 square miles, second only to Dayton. With our fast growth due to I‐675 and WPAFB, and with two of the areas three major shopping malls/centers, the City has been unable to keep up with infrastructure and property owners have also recently seen large increases in property taxes from other taxing authorities.
For more information on 1% income tax ballot initiative, please visit the City of Beavercreek’s website at www.beavercreekohio.gov and direct any questions to incometax@beavercreekohio.gov .