Land Bank Board: Delinquent taxpercentage adequate

Denise G. Callahan

  Staff Writer

6:52 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017  

BUTLER COUNTY

The Butler Countyland bank board has decided not to ask for a bigger slice of the delinquent taxpie, at least not for the foreseeable future.

Land BankExecutive Director Mike McNamara recommended the blight-busting agency hold tothe 1 percent allotment of delinquent tax assessment collections funds, calledDTAC funds, and his board concurred. DTAC funds are late payment penalties onreal estate taxes.

In October theland bank board was considering whether to ask the commissioners for a higher percentage of DTAC funds, in part becausedelinquent properties are shrinking post-recession.

McNamara and county TreasurerNancy Nix, whochairs the land bank board, surveyed other large counties and found 11 of 12receive 5 percent of their DTAC funding.

“I recommend westay at the one percent for another three years…,” McNamara said. “We are functioningwell at one percent, we are able to address blight at a reasonable pace. We areable to achieve a number of grants and funding devices that are available tous. Without a specific need for an increase or a specific request for anincrease or a program from the state telling us that we need to have a greaterfunding stream, I believe one percent is adequate.”

DTAC brought ina total $14.3 million and $131,701 to the land bank last year. An increase tofive percent would yield $658,000. Whatever is siphoned off for the land banktakes away from other taxing bodies like schools, but Nix said Lakota, thecounty’s largest school district, was only out $27,000 from the one percentdeduction. An amount she says was a drop in the bucket compared to their entirebudget.

The land bankwas formed in 2012 and two years ago Butler County commissionersagreed to siphon one percent of DTAC funds to bolster the land bank,help raise the required matching funds and open up services for the entirecounty. For the first two years only the cities of Hamiltonand Middletownbenefited from state and federal programs designed to beat back blight.

The main thrustof the program is to tear down foreclosed and abandoned buildings that are notonly eyesores but can be magnets for mischief. Middletown City Manager DougAdkins asked the board on Monday if they can revisit the DTAC issue sooner thanthree years because they are in the middle of a housing stock assessment andthe city’s needs might change.

“We are in theprocess of completely reevaluating our housing stock and my guess is we’regoing to to be doing a lot of demolition over the next five to 10 years still,”Adkins said. “Not because they are necessarily in foreclosure but because theyare worn out houses that have done their time and it’s time to get them out ofour housing stock and get more competitive housing in place.”

He said hewanted to make sure he could come back to the land bank board for money forthese efforts, if need be.

“My thoughtwould be one percent for 2017 is certainly, from Middletown’s perceptive,adequate but I would like to know I could come back in 2018 with a proposal, ifthere was a reason to go higher,” Adkins said.

The boardagreed the DTAC discussion will remain fluid but for now the one percent is allthat is needed.