Lakota, Northwest, Sycamore among those filing for November tax levies

School district officials across the Cincinnati region have been saying for months that reduced state funding coupled with property tax reforms will force them to go to the ballot more often. And this November, voters will see that come to fruition, with nearly a dozen districts asking for taxpayer

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School district officials across the Cincinnati region have been saying for months that reduced state funding coupled with property tax reforms will force them to go to the ballot more often.

And this November, voters will see that come to fruition, with nearly a dozen districts asking for taxpayer funds in the general election.

In Hamilton County, six districts have proposed levies as of the filing deadline, Aug. 5 at 4 p.m. Of those, half pivoted to pitching a tax on residents' income rather than a property tax, which has historically served as the main revenue source for several districts, including Cincinnati Public Schools.

The region's largest district initially supported an earned income tax, which targets residents' wages and salaries and does

not apply to income from Social Security or retirement. But at a tense Aug. 3 meeting where union members condemned the board's original vote, CPS's school board opted to rescind the earned income tax and instead place a 7-mill property tax on the November ballot.

Traditionally, income taxes have been popular among rural districts, where property taxes hurt farmers with lots of property particularly hard, Ohio School Board Association CEO Tom Hosler previously told The Enquirer.

But now, urban districts like Cincinnati Public Schools and North College Hill City Schools are beginning to follow suit. The number of income tax levies proposed by school districts has more than quadrupled in recent years, Hosler said.

It's a shift some attribute to the statewide push to abolish property taxes, levy fatigue among homeowners and Ohio's sweeping property tax reforms that tighten the reins on schools' prospective revenue.

But voter support for income tax referenda statewide was poor in the most recent primary election, with 24 of the districts' 32 income tax requests failing.

That trend was reflected in Greater Cincinnati, too. Several districts like North College Hill in Hamilton County and Fairfield City Schools in Butler County suffered failed income tax requests in the primary election that they've since punted to this election ballot.