Cityhood FAQs

8/14/2019 Cityhood FAQs

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Wont cityhood just mean I will have to pay more taxes than I do now as a WestChester resident?

The primary reason for becoming a city is to provide tax relief for the citizens of West

Chester. A City of West Chester will have the ability to levy an income (earnings orpayroll) tax on the vast number of individuals who work but do not live in West Chester.A 1% income tax will generate over $20 million in outside revenue allowing us as votersto simply vote no on renewing the existing police, fire and emergency service levies.

With cityhood, the typical homeowner in West Chester will pay $650-700 less inproperty taxes. At the same time, the great majority of our residents will not pay anyWest Chester income tax since they either pay an income tax to another community, areretired or are otherwise unemployed.

Residents who work in West Chester must compare their property tax savings with their

estimated income tax to determine whether their taxes will increase or be reduced. ATax Impact Calculator is provided for your convenience at www.itstime.bz .

2. If West Chester becomes a city, will I have to pay income taxes on my socialsecurity, retirement, investments or other non-wage income?

Our new city council will have the authority to pass an ordinance creating a 1%municipal income tax (often called payroll or earnings tax) on qualified resident and non-resident wages and salaries and on net business profits. The income tax ordinancenormally includes exceptions for social security, pensions, qualified retirement plans,

interest and dividends, capital gains, royalties, military pay and allowances, alimony,annuities, unemployment benefits, workers compensation, and permanent disabilitycompensation. The ordinance also typically grants full reciprocity to residents andbusinesses who must pay local income taxes elsewhere.

The citizens of West Chester may also chose to incorporate these exceptions into amunicipal charter. Regardless, no candidate for city council should be elected withoutpublicly and firmly committing to support these income tax exceptions.
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3. If I live in West Chester, but work in another city with an income tax, will I besubject to the West Chester income tax? What is reciprocity?

Most cities give their residents and businesses full credit for income taxes that must bepaid to another local community not to exceed the amount of city income taxes due.This is the meaning of full reciprocity.

4. How do we know that property taxes will actually go down and that the moneywont be spent on other stuff?

Dont give us more money or well just spend it on other things is a clever sound bite,but it is also misleading.

The primary reason for becoming a city is so that West Chester residents will paysignificantly less - not more - to support our local government. The typical homeowner inWest Chester will pay $650-700 less in property taxes with cityhood and the vastmajority of our citizens will not pay a single penny in West Chester income taxes.

A West Chester police levy would normally be on the ballot this year or next. A fire andemergency services levy passed in 2006 would normally be on the ballot in 2011. Oncevoters approve cityhood, any attempt to pass a police levy - other than interim - wouldbe resoundingly defeated by West Chester voters. Any effort to renew the fire oremergency services levies would also be defeated. Since cities may only levy up to a1% income tax without voter approval; any increases beyond the 1% would have to beapproved by West Chester citizens.

5. How do I know the financial numbers arent bogus?

The West Chester Study Group consisted of 25 highly-qualified and dedicated residentswho came together on more than 50 occasions and volunteered thousands of hours todetermine whether our community could reduce taxes, control the size of governmentand still maintain adequate services. The Study Group gathered financial facts from themost objective and reliable sources available and applied a highly conservativeapproach to projecting City of West Chester revenues.

Some of these authoritative sources included the U.S. Census Bureau, variousComprehensive Annual Financial Reports, the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana RegionalPlanning Commission, the Ohio Department of Taxation, the Ohio Public WorksCommission, the Butler County Auditors Office, the Butler County Engineers Office,West Chesters Finance, Road and Economic Development Departments, and Claritas,Inc.


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6. Becoming a city just means West Chester will have bigger government andmore bureaucracy, doesnt it?

The form of local government we choose does not determine its size or the quality of itsservices. There are over 900 cities in Ohio and each has its own size and level ofbureaucracy.

As a limited-home rule township, West Chester already provides city-level services. Forexample, we provide our own legal, planning & zoning, economic development, capitalconstruction, communications, road repair and other community services. We alsoconsider our existing police, fire and emergency services to be second-to-none andpresent staffing levels help support this claim:

City Police Fire

Fairfield 60 30

Hamilton 174 116

Mason 37 24

Middletown 85 84

Monroe 30 32

West Chester 88 126

It is true that as a city, West Chester will be required to have a city council and a cityauditor, collect income taxes, assume responsibility for building permits/inspections andmaintain county and state roadways located in West Chester. The estimated additionalcost for 2006 was $2.0 million. West Chester, however, also would have received anestimated $2 million in additional State revenues from fuel taxes, license taxes and localgovernment funds.

Becoming a city does not prevent West Chester from spending tax dollars wisely.Disciplined spending is always prudent and cityhood will not hinder West Chester frompursuing shared service agreements, economies of scale, managed competition orother cost saving measures. To the contrary, West Chester citizens will have much moresay over how their tax dollars are spent.

7. Doesnt cityhood take power away from the people and hand it over to a smallgroup? Wont we lose control over our government and our future?

Absolutely not. West Chester today is in the hands of a very small group. With justthree township trustees representing 65,000 people, it takes but two to decide the futureof our community. In fact, cityhood will give our community true home rule status. Wewill have the maximum powers of local control and self-determination available. We willbe able to decide for ourselves how many council representatives are needed (e.g.,3,5,7) and whether they should be elected at-large or by ward. We also will have theoption of developing a municipal charter and thereby creating the form of governmentthat will best restrict spending, facilitate efficiency and reflect our unique local situation.


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Municipal charters are all about good government and self-determination. West Chestercitizens, for example, could choose to include a prohibition against future property taxincreases, an ethics policy that provides penalties for abuse of public office or perhapsterm limits for elected officials in its municipal charter.

West Chester cityhood also means that our existing County layer of bureaucracy will beeliminated and the citizens of West Chester will have more control over policy-making,priority-setting and spending. For example, West Chester will adopt its own buildingcode and the responsibility for issuing local building permits and conducting inspectionswill be transferred from Butler County to West Chester. The trend is for cities to contractwith qualified firms for issuing building permits and conducting inspections so there is noneed to create a separate staff. Butler County and Blue Ash, for example, contract forsuch services and these contracts serve as significant sources of revenue.

The point is that West Chester is better suited to managing its own affairs than ButlerCounty and that government closer to the people is better government. Some residentsview Butler County government as distant both in miles and mind-set. People who liveand work in West Chester will be more responsive to our needs and we will know whosefeet to hold to the fire.

Even if the City of West Chester should decide to contract with Butler County or othersfor road paving, code enforcement and other services, we will be in a better position toprioritize what we want done and how we want it done. Relationships will have changedand we will have a lot more muscle. We will have greater local control and be betterable to determine our own future.

8. Wont becoming a city kill future economic development which has been soimportant to the growth of West Chester?

Another clever but misleading sound bite. West Chester is attractive to new businessesfor a multitude of reasons. For example:

* West Chester has four separate exits along I-75, one of the most heavilytraveled interstates in the country. West Chester also is located just north ofI-275 and is within a half hour of both Cincinnati and Dayton.

* Our Lakota School District has earned state and national recognition and has

been rated in the excellent category for education for seven straight years.

*Businesses in West Chester have access to a huge potential workforce. Over amillion potential workers live within a 45-minute commute of West Chester.

* West Chester offers a variety of local, state and federal incentives for new andexpanding businesses.

Businesses have not stopped coming to West Chester because we have the highestproperty taxes in Butler County - nor will they stop coming to West Chester when wereplace a portion of these property taxes with a local income tax. Cities such as Blue


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Ash and Mason boast an impressive track record when it comes to sustained economicdevelopment despite having a local income tax. There is simply no reason to believethat substituting an income tax for our police and fire levies will negatively impacteconomic development in West Chester.

9. Shouldnt West Chester be thinking regionally instead of locally?

We should be thinking both regionally and locally. Thinking regionally means partneringwith those around us to achieve common goals. It does not mean sacrificing localidentity or giving up local assets so that another community might prosper. To besuccessful, partnerships must benefit all parties - not just some parties or one party atthe expense of another.

In effect, West Chester has become a host community in that we subsidize all thecommunities around us. Most of our residents who work commute elsewhere andtherefore pay an income tax to support other communities. The great majority of WestChesters workers live elsewhere. Since West Chester does not collect an income tax,these workers pay income taxes to their community of residence. We need to become acity in order to be treated as an equal partner. We need to stop pretending that we arestill a township and put the citizens of West Chester first.

10. Why would we want to even consider becoming a city during these tougheconomic times?

The fact is, we can no longer afford not to become a city. Many of our citizens -especially the retired, the newly unemployed and others on fixed income - are struggling

just to pay their medical bills, feed their families and hold onto their homes.

Once the November elections are over we will be asked to vote for a school levy, apolice levy, several countywide levies followed by fire & emergency service levies. WestChester families can no longer afford to carry such a heavy tax burden - nor is this evennecessary.

For more information or to help with the cityhood effort, call 777-7951 or visitwww.itstime.bz

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Cityhood FAQs