Letter to the Commissioners,
Folks,
As we are out of county, cannot attend the public meeting(s) on the
proposed conveyance fee increase, here is my input .....
The current ‘fee’ rate of $2 per $1000 is composed of two parts -
A- the OHIO mandatory charge (R.C. 319.54(G)(3)), called “real property
transfer fee” of $1
B- the county permissive charge (R.C. 322.02), called “real property
transfer tax” of $1, (and for which state law allows for a max rate of
$3)
The proposal is to increase the permissive portion (the tax) to $2
A tax is a tax, any increase in tax rate is and will be unpopular
I cannot find any documentation on the reason or justification for such
fees/taxes in the state of OHIO, only references that the income
generated by said fees/taxes goes in to the general fund of the county.
Thus said, the stated intention of the proposed $1 increase is for
‘economic development’, possibly more specifically to pay for the
staffing of the Darke County economic development
org/staff/department/function/etc
I encourage y’ll to take a look at the Darke County budget in totality,
the income and expense, the sources of income and the targets of
expenses ......................... and ............... define a total
plan to address the needs and wants, expense budgeting and revenue
sources ......... THEN and only then ....... tell the voters (whom I
consider to be the stock holders of the county and your bosses) what
needs to be done and for what reasons.
I consider the “nickel and diming” of both the expense and the revenue
management to be a direct source of many of the challenges to running
the business of Darke County (Inc).
Please use your elected position, your experience, your ‘power’, and
any other resources available ....... wisely.
Respectfully,
Charles D. James (Charlie) recently a property owner in
Darke County
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