The replacement levy would not raise taxes, according to Oakwood officials.
A 3.75-mill renewal levy set to go before voters last month failed to appear on the ballot due to a clerical error, officials said.
The current levy is set to expire at the end of this year. If the tax issue approved by Oakwood City Council last week is approved by voters, it will not collect any property taxes until 2025, records show.
The millage difference from the current levy to the one proposed is due, in part, to “strong property values” in Oakwood, Vice Mayor Steve Byington said.
The city’s budget review committee has endorsed the tax issue, Mayor Bill Duncan said.
A replacement levy is similar to a renewal, but the cost is valued at a home’s current rate instead of the previous one.
The levy is expected to raise about $1.13 million a year. That money would go into the city’s general fund, covering costs such as public safety, parks and recreation, and roadway maintenance, Oakwood City Manager Norbert Klopsch said.
The significance of funding generated by the levy is magnified because the city receives only a small portion of real estate taxes, Klopsch said.
He said the levy is among two five-year tax issues the city uses to supplement its general fund.
The levy was first approved by voters in 2013 after Oakwood let an existing tax issue expire five years earlier, officials have said. After state cuts to the local government fund and the loss of estate tax revenue, the city found it was losing about $3 million annually, or about 20% of its budget, Klopsch said.
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