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Fact check: Liberty township has highest township tax rate in Trumbull County, but not state
By Sarah Lehr
LIBERTY
A trustee arguing against ballot measures for two fire-replacement levies said at a meeting that Liberty Township is the highest-taxed township in the county and in the state.
Liberty is not, in fact, the highest-taxed township in Ohio, though the Liberty Township section of the Girard City Schools district does have the highest total tax rate of any township in Trumbull County.
Nudell said he received his information from county Treasurer Sam Lamancusa, and Lamancusa told The Vindicator that he informed Nudell that Liberty was “one of the” highest-taxed townships in the state, rather than “the” highest.
The section of Liberty Township within the Girard school district has a total tax rate of 98.15 mills. The portion of Liberty Township under the Liberty Local Schools district has a total tax rate of 94.5 mills.
By comparison, the other highest property-tax rates relative to the rest of the county include Warren Township within the Warren City Schools district at 96.6-mills and Hubbard Township at 92.5-mills.
A total tax rate refers to all millage on the books, though effective tax rates can provide a more accurate representation of how much a resident will actually pay. Officials calculate the effective rate so that a levy will continue to generate roughly the same amount of millage even as property values increase. Therefore, the effective rate generally represents a decreased millage.
The effective residential tax rate for Liberty Township/Liberty schools is 82.16-mills. That figure is 79.81-mills for Liberty Township/Girard schools, 71.38-mills for Hubbard Township and 81.79-mills for Warren Township/Warren schools.
Local Chapter 2075 of the International Association of Fire Fighters has urged trustees to let residents vote on replacement levies of 1.3 mills and 0.9 mills each. Those levies are now in effect as continuous levies, first approved in 1976. Because property values have increased since 1976, replacements of those levies would cost the taxpayer more and generate more revenue.
“From what I see, from what we’re collecting, the community is being very generous giving us what they are,” Nudell said, while explaining to fire-department supporters why he would not ask voters to approve any new taxes. “We can’t go back to the taxpayers who are barely making a living in Liberty Township right now. It’s a changing community. Ten, 15, 20 years ago, we had a lot more money coming into here from the people who lived in the township. They have moved on. They have retired.”
Nudell referred to home foreclosures and delinquent tax rates as signs that township residents “either won’t pay their taxes or can’t pay their taxes.”
Median household income in Liberty Township is about $43,925, which is roughly the same as the Trumbull County average of $43,226, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2015, Liberty Township had $2,350,284 in delinquent taxes, according to the Trumbull County Treasurer’s office. Of that amount, $310,767 involves residents who are on contract plans to begin paying off their taxes.
“If you have a high tax rate, you’re going to have a high delinquency rate,” Lamancusa said, adding that a high delinquency rate does not necessarily mean taxes are too high.
Hubbard Township had $1,542,608 in delinquent taxes in 2015, according to the county treasurer’s office.
“Without a doubt, it is a high tax rate,” Lamancusa said of Liberty property taxes. “The tax rates in this county are high. That doesn’t mean they’re too high or too low. The voters in Liberty have okayed those taxes.”
Under Ohio law, local elected officials must go to the electorate to approve any new tax in excess of 10 mills. A mill represents one-tenth of a cent of a property’s assessed value. Under a one-mill tax rate, a resident of home with $100,000 in taxable value, would pay $100 annually. “Outside” millage refers to property taxes voted in by residents of a taxing district, while “inside millage” refers to taxes under 10-mills.