On February 26, the Woman's City Club of Cincinnati hosted a city-wide forum on "Finding Balance in Neighborhood Development." The discussion explored what are healthy neighborhoods and what is healthy development. A livestream of the event can be viewed on this Facebook link. Several MLCC board members attended this meeting. 

 

A follow up forum scheduled for THIS THURSDAY will explore "Fair Tax Abatement Strategies for Neighborhoods." This session will focus on the upcoming expiration of the 1999 Tax Exemption Agreement, which sets the rules around how tax abatements are negotiated between the Cincinnati Public School Board and the City of Cincinnati. Any re-negotiation of this Agreement has the potential to make significant changes in how our city does development. Implications include: school funding, affordable housing, gentrification, community input on development proposals, environment, transit, and more. This session will have an introduction on the 1999 Agreement, and how neighborhoods currently are included (or not) in development deals, how abatements affect all of us, and how only some pay their full property tax bill. There will be moderated breakouts by topic including transit, school funding, gentrification, preservation, affordable housing, and more. Additional information is available here.   

 

In September 2018, Vice Mayor Smitherman and Councilmembers Mann, Dennard and Young, submitted a motion that established the Property Tax Working Group. The purpose of this Working Group is to study trends related to property taxes, especially the issue of rising property taxes in areas experiencing significant levels of development; to make recommendations to City Council aimed at helping to keep senior citizens in their homes and communities; and to report on best practices in other cities and states facing similar challenges. Additionally, the working group will review the City's Tax Abatement Program.

If you have any questions or comments, or have a topic you would like discussed at a community council meeting, please send an email to the MLCC Board at [email protected]. We hope to see you at our next meeting.