After its earned income tax levy vote that prompted backlash from both of Hamilton County's political parties, the Cincinnati Public Schools' Board of Education will likely vote to rescind its decision in its regular Aug. 3 meeting.
If the earned income tax is rescinded, board President Brandon Craig told The Enquirer, the board has the opportunity to vote on one of the two property tax levies it has previously approved. Those include a 7-mill property tax or 8-mill property tax spanning 5 years, amounting to $245 or $280 per $100,000 of a home's assessed value, respectively.
Per the Aug. 3 meeting agenda, there is a notice of a motion to rescind the 0.75% earned income tax it supported 5-2 in a special meeting on July 27. That means a board member
can make a motion on the floor to vote, then that motion needs to be seconded, Craig said.
The school board is allowed to revise its earned income tax vote per the board's own parliamentary rules as long as they do so by the county's filing deadline of Aug. 5 at 4 p.m.
Hosted at Mary A Ronan Education Center at 2651 Burnet Ave., the meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Monday and will be streamed live on the district's YouTube channel.
Did pressure from Democrats, Republicans spur motion to rescind income tax vote?
The school board's agenda item comes days after the executive committee of the Hamilton County Democratic Party voted on July 28 to urge Cincinnati schools not to put an earnings tax on the ballot. All seven of the school board members are Democrats, though the position is officially nonpartisan.
Republican Party Chairman Josh Gerth called the school board's levy vote "offensive" in a statement shared on July 28.
"There are a lot of problems in the city's schools - the size of their budget is certainly not one of them," Gerth wrote.
Craig said the Aug. 3 motion to rescind the board's decision was not motivated by the backlash from either political party, since "We understand and understood their principles around where they're gonna be."
"It's about understanding there's a community of folks who ... have raised concerns" about the earned income tax, he said, adding that he thinks more discussion needs to take place surrounding a levy for the November ballot.
At a rate of 0.75%, the proposed earned income tax would amount to $750 annually for someone with a yearly income of $100,000. And for a salary of $54,500 – the average earned income for those living in the district – the tax would amount to $408 annually, or $15.72 per paycheck.
The proposition marked the first time the region's largest district ever moved forward with placing an earned income tax on the ballot.
Several board members voiced concerns about taxing people out of their homes in choosing to pivot to the tax on income from a property tax, which the district has historically used to gather local revenue. The earned income tax would apply to "earned" funds like wages and salaries and does not target funds from retirement or Social Security.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: After backlash, school board will vote to rescind earned income tax
