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Cincinnati Council must set 2014 property tax rate soon

By mid-January Cincinnati City Council must decide how much property tax money it wants to collect for the 2014 budget year. 

The vote will come as the body works to finalize next year's spending plan.

The rate must be set earlier because the city is changing from a calendar year budget to a fiscal one. 

For the last decade Council has been holding the amount of property tax revenue collected steady or slightly reducing it. 

A Council Member asked Budget Director Lea Eriksen this week what that's meant for the city.

“The city has lost $95 million in property taxes over the period of the rollback,” Eriksen said.

Rollback supporters have argued without it, residents would face a tax increase as their property values increase.  But in the last several years those values have been declining. 

Opponents argue it has cost the city revenue that could have been used to reduce the city's general fund deficit. 
 

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.