(LFC Comments: Lobbyist Joe in Cleveland Heights shares his thoughts about the Cleveland Heights astronomical property tax levy on the March 17th ballot.  The 7.9 mill levy will cost a taxpayer $276.50 per year for every $100,000 of market valuation. [7.9 mills x $35.00])
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The Cleveland Heights residents cannot sustain another tax levy increase. On March 17th this 7.9 mil school operating levy must be defeated. Please vote NO!

Cleveland Heights already owns the title of the highest tax burden city in the state of Ohio. What is tax burden? It is a calculation that includes: total property tax, city tax, average price of house and average family income.

And Cleveland Heights ranks #1 in the entire state.

The amazing thing is that the Cleveland Heights-University Heights  teachers’ union has decided as an encore to hit us with yet another levy. This one adds $415 to the property tax bill of a $150k house.

Let me say something about Cleveland Heights and why this is so morally wrong. We are an aging city located next to Cleveland and East Cleveland. Our houses are all 100 years old with leaky basements.

Cleveland Heights Population

New families are not moving into our community; if anything, people are moving out. We have had a slow but steady decline in population over the past 15 years, and this trend is not going to reverse. This is why it is so morally wrong to burden the taxpayers again with more money when the right thing to do for the school system would be
to tighten its own belt, make some sacrifices and help our aging city to stabilize.

The Teacher’s Union is calling for a cost of living increase and additional money to compensate for what was lost due to the Ed Choice Voucher Program. These vouchers are available to parents from the State of Ohio to pay for private and charter schooling.

The State Report card rated CH-UH schools in the bottom 8% statewide,  and because of this historically low rating many more parents are able to claim the vouchers. Good for them!
So now the CH-UH school system wants to be rewarded for poor performance! I hope and pray that the good people of Cleveland Heights and University Heights make it to the polls on St. Patrick’s Day and kill this ridiculous money grab by the school system.

We cannot afford it; we simply have run out of taxpayer money to give. And here’s the best part, if we say NO to this levy the CH-UH schools will still be in the top 1% of Ohio for total revenue, salaries and benefits!

Vote NO on Issue 26.

Categories: Real Estate Taxes

Tags: FT, Property Tax