by

Fred Swift

(NOTE: This is a commentary written by Fred Swift of the Hamilton County Reporter. The views expressed are those of Fred Swift and do not necessarily reflect the views of LarryInFishers.com.  This opinion piece is posted here as part of a partnership between the Reporter and LarryInFishers.com) 

Hamilton County Reporter

Property taxpayers in Hamilton County will not see any significant increase in their tax bills this year, although tax rates will be up slightly in 11 of the municipalities and townships. Rates will decrease slightly in six other taxing units.

Local taxes remain relatively low compared with other areas of the state thanks in part to the county’s huge base of taxable real estate now nearing $21 billion. The tax base on which property taxes is levied has increased 4.2 percent in the past year due largely to new construction and trending increases of individual tax assessments. Individual statements, going in the mail in April, are a combined total of the tax bill for cities, towns, townships, libraries, schools and the county government. Taxes are due May 10 and Nov. 12.

Property taxes do not cover the entire cost of public services. In all taxing entities except schools, a one percent County Income Tax also funds a significant portion of local government spending. Schools receive a distribution of state tax revenue for the major portion of their cost of operation.

Among the county taxing units, Sheridan has the highest tax rate of $3.21 per hundred dollars of assessed value while unincorporated White River Township has the lowest at $1.50.

Deputy Auditor Lee Graham, who calculates the rates, notes that slight increases in the overall rate for Jackson Township, Arcadia, Atlanta and Cicero come because of Hamilton North Library improvements, and the higher Clay Township rate is due to a fire rate increase.

Listed in the table are the tax rates paid in 2017 compared with new 2018 rates rounded to the nearest penny.

The figures are overall tax rates for the various districts. A complete breakdown of separate portions of the rates in each municipality, township, library district, school and county is found in a legal notice published in Monday’s Hamilton County Reporter.