Cincinnati’s first-ring suburbs face unique challenges. Changing demographics, economic stability, and issues regarding resources and security are common threads among these jurisdictions.
The ways the 49 Hamilton County cities, villages, townships, and municipal corporations not only adjust but thrive is the focus of this series, First Suburbs—Beyond Borders. The series explores the diversity and ingenuity of these longstanding suburban communities, highlighting issues that demand collective thought and action to galvanize their revitalization.
There was a big election last week, and for many voters in Hamilton County, the issues they found waaay down the ballot were the ones that will hit closest to home and their checkbooks.
There were 25 tax levies on the ballot in the county, most of them in the small towns and villages around the county. In these first-ring suburbs, 15 of the levies passed, while eight failed. Two countywide tax renewals passed, one to support family services and the other to support services for the developmentally disabled.
In the communities around the county, there were tax requests for fire and emergency medical services, for local schools, parks, general operating expenses, and one for garbage collection. The sheer number of tax issues on the ballot was an indicator of how much the 49 communities in Hamilton County rely on special tax levies to maintain basic services.
Paying for fire protection and emergency medical services was on the ballot seven times in six different communities, as local officials noted the costs of providing the essential services rising as salaries and equipment costs are going up.
Fire protection, emergency services costs going up
In the village of Greenhills, a new tax for fire protection easily passed with more than 68% of the vote. The village is transitioning its all-volunteer department, perhaps the last such department in the county, to one staffed by part-time, paid officers. It’s just getting too hard to find enough volunteers to staff the department, says Greenhills Mayor David Moore.
Fire protection was also on the ballot in Addyston and North Bend, which contract with Miami Township for fire service, as well as in Miami Township itself. In North Bend, a renewal of its fire and EMS tax passed, but a request to add another 2 mills to property tax bills, which would have raised another $101,000 a year for the services, failed.
North Bend Mayor Doug Sammons said Miami Township had asked that the village request the additional tax because the costs to provide service are increasing, and its new contract with the township for next year is expected to be more expensive.
He blamed the levy failure partly on the fact that North Bend voters were asked to weigh in on two fire tax proposals. The increase may be back on the ballot in the spring, when it will stand alone, he said.
In Addyston, a tax to pay for fire service, which will raise $30,000 a year, was renewed for another five years, with 157 voting for it and 116 voting against. “We’re very happy it passed,” says Dan Pillow, a village council member.
But in Miami Township, which provides the service for the two small villages plus the village of Cleves, the fire service levy failed. The township had asked its residents to renew its current levy and add 3 mills to it for a total of 6.5 mills, or $227.50 per every $100,000 of property valuation. (Some homes in Miami Township have market values of $600,000 or more).
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Joe SimonA tax increase for pay for fire and emergency services in Greenhills passed.Miami Township also had a renewal of an operating levy on the ballot, which passed easily. But faced with the prospect of asking their voters to approve three levies, the township trustees combined the fire service renewal and the proposed increase into one request. It was too much. “People were voting with their pocketbooks,” says Township Administrator Jim Brett.
Now the township, and the three villages it covers, face the prospect of cuts in service and a hold on hiring. The tax increase may be back on the ballot in the spring, but that decision has yet to be made, Brett says.
Paying for fire and emergency medical services was also on the ballot in Springfield Township, one of the largest townships in the state, with 35,000 people. Township trustees asked for an increase, and warned that “Unless the department receives an increase in revenue, Fire/EMS budget projections demonstrate that reserve funds will be depleted and the need to reduce services, as well as continue to use outdated and old equipment, would be necessary.” The tax increase passed with 56% of the vote.
The costs of providing fire and EMS also prompted trustees in Whitewater Township, on the far west side of the county, to ask for more taxes. But the request failed, with 63% voting no.
Educating the public
The defeats have prompted some soul-searching among public officials, who are wondering if they could have done more to communicate the local issues to their voters. In an election that was dominated by the races for U.S. president and Senate, voters may not have even been aware of the local tax issues, or of the stakes.
In the city of Cheviot, a renewal of a tax to pay for general operating expenses barely passed by a margin of 25 votes out of 3,549 cast. While tax renewals often pass easily, as voters understand the “It won’t raise your taxes” appeal of a renewal, this one, which will raise $638,000 a year, barely made it over the finish line.
A renewal of this sort usually passes in Cheviot with 60% support, Mayor Sam Keller says. He blamed the close result on rising property taxes in the county, generated by a countywide property reappraisal that in some cases resulted in tax increases of up to 30%.
“The fact that folks in Hamilton County got such a huge setback on their taxes with the new evaluations is the only thing I can figure for it being so close,” he says.
Cheviot voters may not have been aware of what the tax was for, or the implications if it wasn't renewed. In July, Cheviot City Council passed a preliminary budget estimate for 2025 that was nearly $1 million in the red. The city does not have enough in its savings account to make up the difference, and the tax levy is needed to help make ends meet.
“If it failed, it would have been very detrimental to the operation of our city, so much so that we would have probably been looking at cuts,” Keller says.
In Cheviot, 175 voters skipped right over the tax renewal issue and didn’t vote on it. “When our next renewal comes up, we're going to have to take a good look at how we can do a better job of educating the public,” Keller says.
Local officials are restricted by law in how they can communicate with residents about ballot issues. They can’t advocate for voting one way or another, but they can educate residents and provide facts about how the money will be used.
In Miami Township, officials held three public meetings on how the new tax would be spent, and Brett hosted coffees where residents could ask questions. Despite those efforts, a tax increase officials said was necessary to maintain current levels of fire and emergency services, failed. “We need to do a better job of explaining why we need this money,” Brett says.
Credible messengers
Good communication with voters is essential to passing such issues, says Brewster Rhoads, a longtime political consultant in Hamilton County. Finding citizen leaders who will organize and advocate for issues, holding coffees and open houses, and being active at community events can make the difference, he says.
“How you decentralize the delivery of a message and use credible messengers who can say, ‘Hey, we think this is good for our community,’ is important, especially in smaller communities,” he says.
“There's a perception among swing voters especially, that if they're working this hard to pass this, it must be important.”
He recalled a fire levy he worked on years ago where the firefighters were visible and active in the community, generating goodwill, which helped pass the levy. “I think it all depends on how connected that fire department it is to the community it serves,” he says.
In Springfield Township, where a fire tax increase passed with 56% of the vote, an explanatory flier was mailed to all of residents, and the levy was explained at monthly trustee meetings, which are aired live on local public broadcaster Waycross Media, said Rick Bley, the township's director of safety services. The fire department also hosted an open house in October, and a half-hour “Election Forum” about the fire levy was aired on Waycross with Bley and Fire Chief Randy Miller, during which residents could email questions.
Connecting with residents was also a key to passing the tax increase in Greenhills, Mayor Moore says. “The citizens have always had a connection with the fire department,” he says. The volunteer department handed out signs, distributed door hangars, and the fire chief and head of the safety committee also participated in an election forum on Waycross TV. The fire department is very visible during the community’s Harvest Fest, which happened about a week before Election Day, and the department also organizes a popular turkey raffle in November.
The First Suburbs—Beyond Borders series is made possible with support from a coalition of stakeholders including the Murray & Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation - The Seasongood Foundation is devoted to the cause of good local government; Hamilton County Planning Partnership; plus First Suburbs Consortium of Southwest Ohio, an association of elected and appointed officials representing older suburban communities in Hamilton County, Ohio.