Middletown-High Taxes-Low Values

Article in the Journal about the city now wanting to do something about Middletown having the highest taxes in Butler County but the lowest property values.

How can property that is worth less be taxed the most? No logic to this at all.

Adkins acknowledged this will be something that not everyone will like. In addition to starting the discussion about the housing stock at council’s May 2 meeting, Adkins said he would be meeting with community organizations, landlords, civic clubs and ministers to discuss this issue over the next several months

How about the residential property owners? Are we included? More of us than the groups listed above.

“The numbers are absolutely staggering,” Adkins said.

“We need to make changes to get lower effective tax rates,” Adkins said.

Funny, the city didn't seem concerned when they increased the city income tax rate or drain the residents wallet any way they can to gain more revenue for the city.

I like this comment:


Rick Fishbaugh, a local retired developer said raising property values is “a definite challenge.”

“The problem is trying to attract people to Middletown,” he said. “We have the highest effective tax rates and the lowest performing schools. It’s almost limiting the market to single family people and senior citizens. We’re not getting young families into new homes.”

"Lowest performing schools?" Funny. When I brought that to the attention of Stevie Price, the former superintendent, who they fired by the way, I got a response of denial from him saying "well I don't see it that way!!!" Not suppose to mention the reality of the situation about the schools Mr. Fishbaugh. The school people don't like the suggestion they are producing failing students in their failing school system. All is well if you talk to them and their blind supporters.

"Getting new families into new homes?"

A lot working against that. The heroin issue. The poverty perception of the city. The excessive HUD housing. The crime increase. The lack of decent paying job opportunities. The lack of choices in shopping. Entertainment starved. Not just a housing stock issue. You can buy a nice house in this town in a nice neighborhood for $175 thou that would go for $300 thou in Mason, Springboro or West Chester. Upscale families can get a good deal in this city but they don't want to locate here because of the image and reputation of the city which is hardly upscale and the type of city a so-called "professional" wants to live in. You are never going to attract the upscale family people here until you lessen the crime, get rid of the overwhelming heroin/druggie type people, the prostitutes downtown, the excessive HUD housing, get some decent entertainment in here and clean the place up to where the town is respectable again like it use to be. The city direction and focus the last four decades has "ghettoed up the city" and has been the laughing stock of the region under the pathetic leadership we have had. the city has gone from "hilljack" status to "druggie/low life" status over the years. Many of the people with class and respectability have left or died and have taken the upscale image with them. Money does not flow anymore here since the paper mills shut down and Armco/AK Steel went from 9000 employees to 2400 now......and nothing replaced the decent paying jobs lost.

“If the schools turnaround, we have a chance,” Fishbaugh said. “If not, new home building is going to be limited

Then bank on limited building because the school people don't want to turn the schools around or they would have done it years ago with the first indication of failure in the proficiency testing when it began.

While residents are generous in passing various tax levies and bond issues, he said at some point that cannot go on. Fishbaugh also said City Council needs to be watchful about granting tax abatements

We residents have been tapped out for years Mr. Fishbaugh and City Council will not change their stripes. Business as usual from them. Too ignorant to change for the better.

Middletown: $2,616
• West Chester Twp.: $2,413

Paying more taxes for a comparable home than West Chester. Incredible that this has been allowed to happen. City leadership/Butler County Auditor.....asleep at the wheel again and are solely to blame. How can West Chester be paying lower taxes than Middletown?

Did anyone mention that Middletown pays the highest property tax rate in the STATE on property values that are about double the amount it would sell for? A few years ago, Middletown properties were supposed to be re-evaluated, but none of the properties that I know of had values lowered. Lowering the values would have forced the rates to go up in order to satisfy the $ amount of the levies. (That’s according to Ohio Revised Code.)

Remember the Thatcher deal, when city council bought Manchester Inn, Sonshine, CG&E, First National Bank & others (all tax paying properties) and gave them to non-profits that pay no property taxes or sold them for one dollar. The remaining property owners have to make up for the loss of taxes with higher property valuations...in effect higher rates. The CG&E building housed high end renters...lawyers’ offices and others that drew people downtown but they were run out of their longtime established location in favor of the now all but defunct Cincinnati State, nonprofit (which doesn’t pay taxes)!!! What about the Swallens building? When the city received the building, the city immediately sold the parking lot across the street for $12,000. Because the parking garage was closed (it was not properly policed and maintained) and there was no street parking, the loss of that parking lot rendered the $5.5 million building useless. Then our “leaders” decided to tear down the parking garage, and put in a surface parking lot. No wonder a buyer for the Swallens building was never found. AND THEN Council decided to tear down the newest, most modern building downtown, Swallens, because there was insufficient parking nearby. Think of the lost tax revenue there. Council still mistakenly thinks that it is easier to tear down than it is to re-purpose or rebuild. Our Council continues to compound its own mistakes.

Remember the 400 properties that Adkins razed, with Council’s blessing, and the lost tax revenues on those!! Once again the remaining property owners will have to pay higher taxes (the tax consequences have not yet shown up on our tax bills...but it will) to make up for the losses of this brilliant plan. (Not to mention the 6 figure amount needed to mow the empty lots.) Had Adkins and council brought in jobs and filled those vacant properties with property tax payers, income tax payers, people to support local businesses and pay local sales taxes the properties would have been a great asset for Middletown instead of another nail in the coffin of Middletown. Council will continue tearing down properties and adding more taxes to the highest taxes in the state. We have no swimming pools or any other quality of life assets but we do have very low performing schools. Council keeps making the same mistakes, but expects a different outcome. That is the definition of insanity.

Middletown property owners get prepared: “I will start our discussion of Housing Stock at the May 2, 2017 City Council meeting” said Atkins on his blog.   Let’s hope that doesn’t mean more destruction and compounding taxes on the citizens that have not been able to escape the punishment of living under a third world thinking government. Housing stock is NOT the problem!!! The properties are less valuable because of their location, location, location not their condition. People are FLEEING Middletown because of inept, short sighted, oppressive “city government.” If no one wants to live in Middletown, real estate in Middletown will continue to be of little value. Blaming housing stock for all the city’s ills is an attempt to call attention away from the REAL problems.

If Adkins and council had spent as much time on economic expansion instead of short circuiting our tax base by razing so much real estate, our city would be bringing in real jobs and spreading our taxes over more people with good incomes in pleasant surroundings. Instead they are destroying our city. Money is extorted from citizens for sidewalk, curb and gutter (Auto and Gas Tax should have paid); we are fined for too tall grass and for peeling paint on our properties, and so on… We the citizens are blamed for and repeatedly pay for the failures of our city government. Council IS THE REASON we can not compete with the surrounding cities and townships.

I see the school situation as a result of the decline of the city more than I see the city's problems as a result of the school ratings, and YES to middies mom,lover and 29, I plan on being very involved in the long term improvement of our education structure.

Whistler's Mom -

Yep, and the frustrating thing is that this same information is read by the city leadership and their supporters, including those on this forum, and the city leaders still conduct business as usual and, amazingly, their supporters turn a blind eye to the facts and argue with the opposing side on this site.

Same goes for the dam schools. Data produced by the proficiency tests for over a decade, showing bottom dwelling results, are "double-talked" and ignored by the school leaders and in both the city and the schools, nothing ever changes.

Must be hard backing up to your paycheck each week.

Doug - nice (and eye-opening) presentation on the housing study. You definitely gave council (and citizens as you go out into the community and present) a lot to consider as Middletown moves forward.  

Mr. Adkins -

In reference to an article in the Journal about property taxes Processor said:

The article confused tax rate with total taxes paid. Middletown has the highest tax rate, but has lower property taxes since the home values are so much lower than surrounding areas. Whistlermom is correct that many of the levies are for a dollar amount and not a rate. As housing values drop and more properties are taken off of the tax role, this increases the rate on the remaining properties. However, on a dollars paid basis the property taxes in Middletown are relatively lower than other areas.

From the Journal-News:

Tax bills on a $100,000 home vary widely across Butler County: Fairfield: $2,077   Fairfield Twp.: $2,319   HAMILTON: $1,966   Liberty Twp.: $2,262
MIDDLETOWN: $2,616   Monroe: $2,330 Oxford: $1,513   West Chester Twp.: $2,413

COMMENT: Middletown pays over 30% more taxes on the same value of property as Hamilton. Property taxes are NOT paid on the real value of the property (which is the $ that it will sell for), they are paid on the auditor’s valuation. None of the properties in Middletown had their values lowered (that I know of) because that would have raised the rates that were already too high. The loss in taxable value had more to do with the loss of value (and potential revenue) on Middletown’s 400 razed properties and properties turned over to nonprofits. That accounts for Middletown’s loss of property value. So the properties where the buildings had been razed lost most, if not all, of their value but the auditor’s valuation on the rest of our real estate did not change.   THE RESULT is that the rest of us must make up the difference by (in effect) paying a higher rate and pay that rate on properties over-valued by the auditor. The auditor could not reduce the values and still be able to deliver the required $ for the levies.

From city manager’s blog:
Our effective property tax rate is therefore, the highest in the area, meaning our residents are paying higher property taxes than other communities. Although our problem is very real, we are not alone in dealing with this issue. Surrounding cities have also experienced this downturn.
2011 to 2015          Total Value Loss
Middletown                  -8.8%
Hamilton                     -9.2%
Monroe                      -10.2%

COMMENT: This actually shows that Hamilton had even more loss of value than Middletown.   So Processor’s statement on this blog: “However, on a dollars paid basis the property taxes in Middletown are relatively lower than other areas.” is totally false. As stated above we pay $2,616 on a $100,000 home which is over 30% more than Hamilton’s $1966.

From the Journal-News:
“Ohio in recent history has among the highest average property taxes in the nation,” Watercutter said. “By continually raising property taxes to support schools, as well as other infrastructure in lieu of other funding sources such as sales tax — which generates revenues from property owners as well as non-property owners — property taxes limit a buyer’s ability to purchase as well as the property’s ability to appreciate in value.”
“A Journal-News analysis of property tax bills in Butler County showed the highest bill (based on a $100,000 home valuation) in the county is $2,616 — credits some homeowners receive were not factored into the bill — in Middletown. The lowest property tax bill, $1,272, on the same value was found in Wayne Twp.
Middletown’s effective tax rate is the highest in the county because the city lost almost $58.4 million in property value from 2011 through 2015, according to City Manager Doug Adkins, so adjustments had to be made.”

COMMENT Since Ohio has one of the highest property taxes in the nation and Middletown is highest in Ohio therefore we must be the highest taxed city in the entire nation!

What about Hamilton: “Finance Director Tom Vanderhorst said the city has lost $195 million in property value since the Great Recession in 2008, which means fewer people are shouldering the tax burden so individual tax bills go up.”   Yet they pay over 30% less property taxes than Middletown property owners.)

From city manager’s blog:
Three possible ways to lower our effective property tax rate would be :
1. To lower the total millage approved by voters;
1. To add significant new residential housing (and therefore value) to your overall housing stock lowering the effective tax rate; and
2. to significantly upgrade a large portion of existing housing stock, raising value to existing housing and lowering your effective tax rate. These would be major upgrades like room additions or finishing basements, etc.
3. to significantly upgrade a large portion of existing housing stock, raising value to existing housing and lowering your effective tax rate. These would be major upgrades like room additions or finishing basements, etc.

COMMENT: Maybe #4 should be: Quit tearing down everything or giving property to nonprofits and start rebuilding with jobs and new residents. Let’s start spreading the taxes among more people instead of less. Start using our tax dollars wisely and for what they were intended.

wow--outstanding to have these two "high profile" public officials acknowledging and honestly participating on this forum. I have known and worked with Mr.A and Chief M for quite a while, and can speak highly of their openness, honesty and dedication to our community. They are both available to seriously discuss pretty much all situations. They truly listen and think about your points of view.

Doesn't mean that we agree on everything--hardly the case--however I(and they) can accept alternative thinking and never make it personal. They both live here, raise their families here and are very active parts of the community. Can't ask for much more, other than Council getting the message and start communicating similarly(other than when they are running for election).

Hopefully this can progress to a very simple form of ? and answer communication available to everyone. It is hardly the screen name that matters---most importantly the message. A true positive move for the uniting of our city. We ALL want the area to prosper, and together we can accomplish that goal much faster and easier imo.

Thanx!!

Vet’s suggestion that we could   “start communication between citizens and officials with a community forum that would include the city manager, all council members, the police chief and any others the people may wish to address, where the questions aren’t screened beforehand and the responses couldn’t be pre-rehearsed.”   ...would be an ideal situation.

This describes how good city government responds to the people they represent. Actually, City Council IS responsible for keeping an open dialog with citizens. But too many constraints are placed on citizens’ ability to express concerns in our Council meetings.   Even to be considered to make a comment, you must request beforehand to speak and you will be limited to three minutes.   Your request can and will be denied at council’s discretion.    Also, no other open forums have been offered for citizens which involved all city officials, and allowed open question and answer sessions.

Yes, having our Police Chief Muterspaw join and contribute to this forum is a plus! More please!

Just one cavieat...no city official has yet responded to Vet’s great suggestion. Don’t hold your breath. They are the one’s who are hiding ….behind their official status….so out of reach, so out of touch and perhaps short of answers for our questions.

Kids never bothered me. We had a nice neighborhood. Very respectable.

Now that we have the city manager and police chief on board with communication, would like to see the entire city council participate. Three minutes is just not enough time for a complete discussion and it doesn't fit the typical city council meeting format either. The council public forums vanished with the dismissal of Josh Laubach. Haven't had one from any councilmember for years. He (and Tony Marconi) were the only two who cared enough to interface with the public and we had some nice discussions back then. I noticed that Mulligan and Scott-Jones were present at one meeting at the Wildwood Country Club years ago. Probably there to monitor and "coach" young Josh to ensure he said the "right things" and to discuss "issues" with him if he didn't. Just speculation on my part but it wouldn't surprise me that that wasn't the case. Mulligan, at times, seems to indicate he wants to keep tight reigns on his fellow council members. Because Mulligan is an MMF member, gotta abide by the MMF doctrine at all costs.

Council needs to break the rubber stamping image and start thinking on their own for a change. Need to acquire an independent streak and be their own person. Their current behavior makes them look awfully weak and in the mold of puppets doing the bidding of a higher authority (the MMF) The people don't want that kind of output from the council. They want discussion of the issues before decisions are made, not the current "yes-nodding" nonsense and the automatic unanimous approvals that are listed in the meeting workbooks.

No council member (except Bohannon, as it relates to HUD housing landlord discussions here) has participated here. Hell, even Marcia Andrew, to her credit, has talked to us in the past. Why no council members as yet? Does Larry Mulligan think he is above the fray? Let's talk Mulligan (and leave the aloofness at home).

Vet, you are correct to be suspicious of the city government and their targeted enforcement. It does not matter if there is or isn’t a problem with you or your property. If the city wants to find something wrong, a lie is as good as the truth to the city inspectors, police and our court. Don’t forget that Adkin’s second favorite pastime (right after destroying every property possible) is abusing our seniors about property upkeep. Seniors shouldn’t be harassed and have to do without food or medicine to keep their property perfect to prevent Adkins tearing it down. According to Adkins Middletown’s housing stock is our only real problem. Adkins is now advocating destroying more of our city than ever. Look around the city.   There is NO rebuilding where the houses have been razed...there are only empty lots which Adkins has decreed will remain vacant. That’s right!! no one is allowed to build on them.   Adkins must think if every house was new and paying high taxes no one would notice the lack of amenities, poor performing schools, no jobs and a government that destroyed a fine city and then blamed their problems on the citizens’ imperfect properties. This is indefensible!

Chief Muterspaw, your input is very welcome. Hopefully you can keep an open mind both directions for and against city government.   As to open government, I hope you read on The City Manager’s Blog about how Adkins, himself, described how he coached council to arrive at predetermined decisions before the council meeting.   You also mention that city finances are on line and available to the public. Did you look at them and notice that many times the same check number shows up with two different “pay to” amounts; and/or reversed or rotating funds to or from revenue (which is the general fund) and to or from enterprise funds (which are restricted from being used for anything other than their specific use)?   The storm water sewer fund is used like a slush fund. Check the balance of that fund!!! Years of collection on our water bills, representing millions of $’s have disappeared. The city lagged behind other municipalities, by several years, in putting the “checkbook” accounting on line. The city”s method of accounting data entry, makes finding and being able to use the information difficult at best. It’s understood, these are not your doing but they are serious problems that have been overlooked for years.

Here are some questions that need honest answers (some of these were before your time but still they should not exist today):

1. Even though we passed a safety levy that promised no lay-offs in safety personnel, don’t we have fewer police now? If you in fact made $300,000 in cuts to management in the police department (that wasn’t just Hoffman retiring?) and replaced them with police on the streets, that’s a welcome change. But if that is true, why do we need to have the State Highway Patrol patrolling our streets.

2. How long have you been reading this blog? Questions from people who care about our city have gone unanswered for years on this blog. It will take some time to give it a thorough look.

3. Have you looked into the fact that the police do not answer their phone? It is easy to say that crime is down if you don’t take police reports. Being the highest crime area in the state, third highest in the country, is not improved by answering your phones with a recording.

4. A few years ago there was a problem with no records being kept in the property room. The police officer responsible was written up, but she was exonerated in court. She was only obeying orders. Money, drugs and guns were all missing. Where did all that property go? Were court cases lost and drug dealers released because of missing evidence?   And after 6 or 7 years of no records being kept (of property going in or going out) Les Landen dismissed all inquiries with one look around and announced that nothing was missing.   Has this problem been solved? Are records being kept correctly? Can we trust that? The city’s tax payer has had to bear the cost of court cases and settlements. How much has this cost us?

5. There are several court records of Middletown police impounding cars illegally and the company that does most of their impounding falsely reporting that cars were sold, or otherwise not able to be returned. It was proven in a court case, Henry v. City of Middletown•Case No. 15-3119, 5 (6th Cir. Jul. 15, 2016), that a car was still in possession of Mark’s Towing when they claimed it to be sold.   In that same case it was determined there was an illegal impound.   Do you think that police filing false reports in order to take citizens’ property should be tolerated in Middletown?   Have the police involved been held responsible or disciplined? Are they continuing to make illegal impounds today? How can they be trusted? How much did this court case cost us?

You're so well thought out. Hope to see you at the next city hall meeting. By chance do you know if the Manchester Inn is for Sale again? It doesn't look like it is but I'm curious.