Village voters approve income tax hike

A change to the village’s tax structure has been approved.

Fort Recovery voters solidly supported a 0.5-percentage-point increase in the village’s income tax during Tuesday’s election, approving it 170-52.

Luke Knapke and Greg Schmitz were also re-elected to Fort Recovery Village Council, with Sean Kahlig and Nick Wehrkamp re-elected to Fort Recovery School Board.

With the income tax increase approved, Fort Recovery will begin collecting a 1.5% income tax from residents in 2026. The current income tax rate is 1%.

“We were obviously very happy that the people felt that we presented a good enough case to warrant making those switches,” Fort Recovery village administrator Randy Diller said Wednesday morning. “Hopefully it benefits the people that are struggling with their real estate taxes here in town … hopefully we spread the burden out a little further and help those who are struggling.”

In presenting the income tax increase option in June, Diller explained that the village’s 2.5-mill — in Ohio, property taxes are charged as mills (millage), with one mill equal to one-tenth of a cent — five-year general expense tax levy was up for renewal this year. Because the levies had been renewed multiple times, they were no longer collecting at their original rate because of increases in property values over the years.

Diller offered the option that the property tax levies not be renewed if the income tax increase was approved. (He noted that Fort Recovery was the only municipality in the area with an income tax rate as low as 1%, with the others at 1.5% or higher.)

The general expense tax levy was generating about $286,000 annually. He estimated that the income tax increase could generate about $200,000 more than the real estate tax.

Fort Recovery Village Council started the process toward the income tax increase in June, approving legislation on first reading during a special session on Independence Day and on second reading three days later. As part of the process, the village council indicated it would “zero out” the village’s real estate tax levies if the income tax increase passed.

Estimates Diller presented indicated that the average taxpayer would save 14% on their total real estate tax bill if the village’s levies were removed. He noted that income tax is taken out of residents’ paychecks, while real estate taxes are billed twice a year. The village held multiple public forums to share information about the proposed changes.

The income tax increase passed with 73.3% of the vote.

Knapke and Schmitz were unopposed in the election. Schmitz received 200 votes while Knapke received 195.

Kahlig and Wehrkamp were also unopposed, with the former receiving 375 votes and the latter 362 votes.

Also elected Tuesday were Scott Overman and Dale Brunswick as Recovery Township trustees and Donald Kahlig and Gary Post as Gibson Township trustees. In each case, two seats were available and the candidates were unopposed.

Winning seats on the board of Mercer County Educational Service Center were Janet Bruns, Curtis Hayes, Matt Dwenger and Holly Ann Turner.

Voters also approved a levy for Mercer County Health District, with 53.7% of voters in favor. It will be used to support the health district, including services such as food inspections, immunizations, water system and sewage inspections, and maintaining birth and death records. The five-year level is expected to cost owners about $9 per year per for a property valued at $100,000.

Also approved Tuesday was a replacement levy for Southern Mercer County Joint Ambulance District. It passed with 82.2% of voters in favor.