Cincinnati council votes to raise property tax | 91.7 WVXU News

Cincinnati City Council's finance committee voted Wednesday morning to hike the city's property tax for capital projects.

It will mean another $10 a year for the owner of a home valued at $100,000, but it will do nothing to ease the city's projected $34 million operating budget deficit.

Committee chair Roxanne Qualls and council members Chris Seelbach, Laure Quinlivan, Cecil Thomas, Wendell Young and Yvette Simpson voted to raise the property tax from 5.9 mills to 6.25 mills.

Council members Charlie Winburn, Christopher Smitherman and P.G. Sittenfeld voted against the tax hike.

That property tax increase will allow the city to go forward with capital projects such as building a new West Side police station and street repair.

It was the result of a deal between Seelbach and Mayor Mark Mallory to do away with the $4 million city hall atrium project that the mayor wanted. That money instead will go to the renovation of Music Hall.

That won Seelbach's vote for the property tax increase.

City solicitor John Curp had warned council that it was legally obligated to vote for enough property tax millage to cover its capital debts.

"The increase will enable us to rebuild crumbling pools and build a police station,'' said Quinlivan, explaining her vote for the increase. "For your 10 bucks, we'll get a remodeled Music Hall that will last a 100 years, a new police station and be able to replace crumbling swimming pools."

Mark Quarry, the government relations director of the Cincinnati Board of Realtors, criticized the decision after the vote.

"You are making decisions to raise people's taxes and you have no idea what we are going to do to cut costs later."

The tax increase is for capital projects only. The city still faces a projected $34 million shortfall for next year's budget.

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