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MUIRFIELD eNEWS: OCTOBER 1, 2018

CORRECTION: in calculating the school levy impact on your home, some zeros were left out. If the levy is approved, it will cost you $207 per $100,000 of the appraised value of your home, not per $100. Yikes, that would have been terrible, Thanks to Jacke M. for catching this. My apologies. And you may want to save the below info for when your ballot arrives. Bob Fathman

Election info you can use, courtesy of your Muirfield Civic Action Committee

From Bob Fathman, Chair

There are several "issues" on the ballots you will soon receive in the mail, or see at your polling booth. Disclaimer: This is an information-only e-mail. We don't advocate for or against issues or candidates, we just provide info.

All Muirfield Voters:

1.State Issue #1: "The Neighborhood Safety, Drug Treatment, and Rehabilitation Amendment." If approved, this will reduce sentences for some drug crimes.

Arguments Pro: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2018/09/06/ohio-issue-1-what-were-doing-just-isnt-working/1158250002/

Arguments Con: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2018/09/06/ohio-issue-1-lives-lost-if-proposal-passes/1158238002/

2.Dublin School District: This is a combination of two issues: a no-new millage bond issue and permanent improvement levy, combined with a 5.9-mill operating levy. The bond issue is a renewal of an expiring tax, and will cost homeowners nothing additional to what they have been paying. The permanent operating levy will cost taxpayers $207 more per year for each $100,000 of home value as appraised 2 years ago and listed on the Auditor’s website. And one part of this new levy will not kick in until 2020. This amount is the lowest requested since 1986.

ALERT: Confusion has arisen about the cost of this levy due to misleading info sent by postcard and on the website of Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo. He directs voters to a “tax levy estimator,” but that math calculator significantly and falsely inflates the tax impact of the Dublin Schools levy in that it only shows the cost of levies coming into being, and it fails to deduct levies rolling off due to the end of their life span. Here is his YouTube video attempting to correct the confusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0k89CUPAo Calculating the impact is really simple. Look at the bold sentence above. If your home is appraised at $400,000, the tax increase will amount to 4 x $207, or $828/year.

If approved the overall issue will fund:

Questions we at the CAC get asked: do apartment dwellers have to pay for schools just as do individual homeowners? Do residents living in Union County, like Jerome Village, pay the exact same millage for Dublin schools as do residents of Muirfield? Do new subdivision houses pay enough property taxes to support the kids generated by that housing? Is the District hurt by the Bridge Park TIF? Get these and other questions answered on the School District website here: https://www.dublinschools.net/november6.aspx Scroll down on that page for Q & A. If still having questions, email rfathman@gmail.com and your Muirfield CAC will find answers to your questions.

Franklin County voters only:

Metro Parks Levy (Replacement with Increase) The is not a renewal levy. It replaces a previous, lower-value levy and adds a completely new one, taxing at a higher rate. It is a 65% increase in the taxes we have been paying, from $80/year for the typical $400,000 Muirfield home to $133/year.

Delaware County voters only:

Delaware County Library: 1 mill, $0.10 per $100 valuation, for 15 years, commencing in 2019. This is a renewal of a 1 mill tax levy that has existed for 10 years, resulting in no increase. The owner of a $400,000 home pays $152/year for the library. One of the Delaware County Commissioners thinks the levy amount should be decreased. You can read more here: http://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20180731/delaware-county-library-looks-to-future-with-levy-renewal.

Delaware County Board of Developmental Disabilities: Proposed Tax Levy (Additional), costing the owner of a $400,000 home an additional $56 per year, starting right away, in 2019. But, this article in the newspaper says that it is the intent of that Board to let lapse a year later, in 2020, an even larger levy that is costing that homeowner $65/year now. http://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20180809/delaware-county-disabilities-board-will-go-to-voters So in 2019 both taxes will be collected, but the DD Board says they will vote next year to allow the larger one to expire. Note that the levy on the ballot this year is a “continuous,” or permanent, levy, whereas the levy set to expire next year was time-limited. There is an existing permanent levy as well. Yes, read that twice, it is confusing, but accurate.


Published October 1, 2018

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