Property taxes in Richwood have gone up and residents and officials are asking what can be done to curb it.
State Rep. Tracy Richardson visited the regular council meeting Monday night to update officials about goings-on at the state level. Among the topics of discussion was the growing pressure for residents, particularly with fixed incomes, to keep up with raising rates.
Richardson said that is a top priority for her and others at the Ohio Statehouse as she and fellow members of congress have been appointed to a commission to look at the issue.
“In this current market, we keep seeing increases in property values, right?” Richardson said. “But the residents aren’t realizing those increases, at all. They’re just paying the taxes on them.”
Council member Von Beal agreed and said the state should look at putting caps in place to stop the nonstop increases.
He said, while in college, he witnessed the growth of New Albany and how wealth came in and forced out all of the property owners in the area that couldn’t keep up with the taxes and that could happen in Richwood, eventually. He said it might already be starting, noting a house that was recently built outside the village.
“It’s a new home with a five-figure real estate tax on it. If you break that down, it’s almost $200 a week, on a 40-hour workweek, that’s $5 per hour that you work just to go to the real estate tax on top of your regular payroll,” he said. “That’s insane.”
He agreed that residents are being taxed on unrealized gains as a result of the values going up over the last several years and although those numbers are referred to as “market value,” it’s seemingly happening arbitrarily, he said.
Other council members said the issues are even happening in town with family members having to pay unaffordable taxes on family homes.
Council member Reddy Brown said it’s currently happening with his mother and her home that she’s lived in for 40 years.
“We might have to sell it because we cannot afford the property taxes,” he said. “Her property taxes have gone up 50% in the last three years.”
He said even with the existence of the Homestead exemption, which homeowners over the age of 65 and with a total household income under $30,000 can use to reduce bills, the taxes are too high.
Mayor Scott Jerew agreed something has to be done, suggesting the line should at least separate the northern part of the county with the record growth in the southern part.
“The average house in Union County is $434,000, I believe. Come to Richwood and find me a dozen $400,000 houses in Richwood. But we’re still in the same county, so we’re still getting taxed because Jerome Village is building million-dollar homes,” he said. “That’s the problem I see, like Von said, we’re just getting swallowed up by taxes from the other side of the county.”
Jerew added he knows of situations where residents have built houses in town in recent years that are already being sold.
“(A resident) just built it a few years ago and said taxes went up so much that they’re leaving Union County,” he said.
Even contesting the values doesn’t help, he said.
Richardson said the state is going to have to look at everything to fix it.
“Tying it completely to market value, exclusively, like we’re doing and when the market values are skyrocketing, we don’t want your mom to have to leave your house,” she said. “That’s not what we’re doing.”
Richardson said she is working with other officials to “systemically fix” the issue.
“It’s going to be a challenge, so great ideas are highly welcomed,” she said. “More to follow on that, I wanted to share that with you. It will be a very heavy left and an important one.”