Should a .25-percent sales tax voters approved in 2014 to shore up Cincinnati landmark Union Terminal continue so that Hamilton County can make ends meet?
You’ll get a say on the proposal made by Hamilton County administration to help balance the county’s strained $276 million budget. The county could be as much as $20 million short next year without the extended tax, which would keep the county’s overall sales tax rate at 7 percent.
The so-called “icon tax” is set to expire in April next year. Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto says extending the tax would raise $60 million through 2021. Continued collection of the tax would be sufficient to close the upcoming funding gap, Aluotto says.
The county has struggled with increasing costs and a sales-tax-revenue-sapping deal for Cincinnati’s two riverfront stadiums, as well as dwindling revenues from the state’s local government fund. Hamilton County lost $66 million in state funding between 2011 and 2017, Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes has said.
A move last year to boost the county’s sales tax by .2 percent met with strong resistance from conservatives, who mounted a petition drive to repeal the hike. County commissioners rescinded the proposed increase.
Tax opponents would need roughly 23,000 signatures to get a tax repeal referendum on the ballot this time around.
Hamilton County’s three Democratic commission members must vote to approve the tax extension. Before they do that, however, they’re asking for public input. They’ll hold three public hearings at the dates and times below:
• Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m at the Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Road
• Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Silverton Town Hall, 6943 Montgomery Road
• Thursday, Oct. 10 at 1:15 p.m. at the Hamilton County Administration Building, 138 East Court Street, Room 605 in downtown Cincinnati
This article appears in Sep 18-25, 2019.