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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Won’t 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 WestChester. A City of West Chester will have the ability to levy an income (earnings or payroll) tax on the vast number of individuals who work but do not live inWest 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 atwww.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.

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 moneywon’t be spent on other stuff?

“Don’t give us more money or we’ll 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 or emergency 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 aren’t 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 Engineer’s Office,West Chester’s Finance, Road and Economic Development Departments, and Claritas,Inc.

6. Becoming a city just means West Chester will have bigger government andmore bureaucracy, doesn’t 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 of bureaucracy.As a limited-home rule township, West Chester already provides city-level services. For example, 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 30Hamilton 174 116Mason 37 24Middletown 85 84Monroe 30 32West 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 or other cost saving measures. To the contrary, West Chester citizens will have much moresay over how their tax dollars are spent.

7. Doesn’t cityhood take power away from the people and hand it over to a smallgroup? Won’t 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.