Taxes and cost of living are higher in Ohio than in West

Taxes and cost of living are
higher in Ohio than in West

EDITOR:

After living out West for some years, we moved back to Ohio because we love the people, area, seasons, etc. But the expenses here, especially taxes, shocked us. We don't know if we will now be long-term residents.

We felt we would pay more for a few things, but the amount we pay in property tax is outrageous, with schools taking an exorbitant amount of the tax money!

Now, I believe in school taxes, acknowledging the benefit of having good schools for our community's children, but I question the amount of tax monies being given to them and their operating in the red! Just as we have to stay within a household budget and watch spending, so must school districts. Spending must be contained and even reduced by consolidating, closing special programs, school buildings, and yes, even eliminating jobs, especially when enrollment dwindles. School boards must become accountable to the taxpayers rather than to just councils and commissioners.

There must be a better system of checks and balances, so spending can be analyzed and contained. More care to extend lives of school buildings should be undertaken, rather than retiring them too early for expensive, newer ones. Tax monies should be spent on education essentials such as: sound/basic education programs, salaries, and buildings/maintenance. If parents of school children want various athletics and special programs, they should foot that bill for their children. The fees for the latter could be easily assessed every school year upon enrollment of a child.

Every person's quality of life is affected with a higher and higher tax burden, but it is especially so with seniors. When a population drops and/or if a population is without jobs or on fixed incomes, it cannot continue to support the same amount of tax or even more tax! This is especially true for seniors on fixed incomes who cannot continue to carry the always escalating burden of property taxes and new levies. (God help us if the current rollbacks are ever stopped, and the small tax break the governor just gave seniors over 65 is a pittance to what should be given.)

I feel like half laughing and crying when I hear, “Well, taxes may be higher in Ohio than out West, but everything else is cheaper here.” Where does that idea come from? Propaganda? It's not cheaper to live here, believe me! Groceries, clothes, etc. are about the same, but everything else costs more. Utilities are much higher — gas, electric, water, phone -- as is car and home insurance, other day-to-day house maintenance items because of climate and, of course, taxes.

For example, Mahoning takes the full Appraised Value or Last Sale (price sold for) and multiplies it by 35 percent and then taxes that amount at a rate of 54.929. Where we lived out West, the tax is based on a limited value appraisal that is about 40 percent less than the sale price, and then that amount is taxed at a 10 percent primary rate, with secondary rate (like for levies) of 3.5 percent. On a comparable house/land/area in Ohio, we are paying more than twice as much a year in taxes.

It's nuts — Ohioans should get mad and fight back by writing to the governor, legislators, and, above all, with their vote.

SUE FRY

Poland

A question about spending

EDITOR:

Wouldn’t it have been better to spend our billions of dollars to repair our bridges and other parts of our aging infrastructure rather than for the desecration of another country?

ROBERTA JOHNSON

Canfield