Ohio Homeowners Say Fire/EMS Taxes Make No Sense
Aug. 13--The taxes and fees paid by residents who live in Dublin's Tartan Ridge subdivision are causing confusion and unrest, at least when it comes to fire and EMS protection.
A meeting yesterday of the Jerome/Washington Fire New Community Authority was supposed to help. But the residents, who own homes worth anywhere from $350,000 to nearly $1 million, said they left with more questions than answers.
Part of the problem: Tartan Ridge has about 120 finished homes and nearly that many in various stages of construction. A 2005 annexation put the whole development, off Jerome and McKitrick roads, inside the Dublin city limits. The majority of the homes also have Washington Township fire and EMS service, which also covers all of Dublin.
But one chunk of Tartan Ridge lies in Union County's Jerome Township. Thirty-one houses are either built or under construction on the Jerome Township side, and the developer, Edwards Land Co., owns more land there.
Homeowners on the Washington Township side pay, on average, about $1,200 a year in property taxes to fund the Washington Township Fire Department.
The owners of the land that is within Jerome Township pay no property taxes for fire service, yet Washington Township still covers them. That's an inequity, officials say.
The rules of the community authority call for all Tartan Ridge residents to pay the authority a fee -- above and beyond their collected property taxes -- for fire and EMS service. Yet it never has been collected, as Washington Township would never agree to how such a fee would work because that amounts to double taxation for the residents, said Washington Township Trustee Denise Franz King.
The officials have been quietly fussing about it for years. But now, the residents have gotten involved, and they aren't happy.
Some want the community-authority board completely disbanded.
"I am greatly distressed and outraged," said Richard Wolf, whose family was among the first to build in Tartan Fields and lives on the Jerome Township side.
The community authority always has assessed each property owner in the development 4 mills (about $122 a year for every $100,000 of property value) to pay about $2 million in debt for road improvements. Yet no fees for fire/EMS were collected, partially because the formula is unwieldy, said Charlie Driscoll, Edwards Land Co. president.
"It's complicated, and we've been messing around with it for five years trying to get it right," Driscoll said.
Last year, the authority did assess the Jerome Township homeowners a fire/EMS fee for the first time. But instead of collecting the amount equivalent to what Washington Township homeowners pay in property taxes, it collected $2,700 from the Jerome Township property owners in total.
None of it makes much sense, acknowledges Caleb Bell, an attorney with the Columbus law firm Bricker & Eckler, which represents Washington Township.
"It's a very odd set of circumstances," he said.
At yesterday's meeting, the community-authority board agreed to stop all collection for fire service. Instead, the Jerome Township homeowners will be asked to agree to pay a bill, sent either by Dublin or Washington Township annually, that's equal to what the Washington Township residents pay in taxes for the same service.
For that, Washington Township firetrucks and ambulances will continue to serve them. No one could say with certainty what will happen if they do not agree.
"None of this makes any sense," Wolf said. "It's outrageous."
hzachariah@dispatch.com
@hollyzachariah
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