Reynolds Has Now Returned $4 Million to Local Governments

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1 News Release September 10, 2013 Reynolds Has Now Returned $4 Million to Local Governments Conservative Leadership Leads to 6 Straight Years of Surpluses HAMILTON, Ohio For the sixth consecutive tax year, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds is returning money to local governments such as schools, cities, townships and libraries. He s returned over $4 million during that time - $1.87 million this year alone. Reynolds entered office in 2008 with the aggressive goals of reducing spending, reforming government processes and returning tax dollars. After more than five years, those goals are now expectations at the Auditor s Office, where a staff of fewer, more highly-trained professionals continues to do more with less. I have set high expectations since Day 1 at the Auditor s Office, said Reynolds. This surplus we are returning is a result of hard work, a dedicated staff and the desire to be as efficient as possible. Under Reynolds, the Auditor s Office has returned surplus real estate fund money to local governments every year something that was nearly unheard of before he assumed office as there was no surplus for at least 10 years prior to This year s surplus of $1.87 million is the most it has ever been. To date, $4.09 million has been returned. Instead of being spent on overhead costs, that money has gone back into the levy funds it came out of originally. The Lakota Local School District is receiving $402,986 in refunded fee money this year, followed by Butler County s various levies which will receive $284,234 collectively. The Fairfield City School District will also collect more than $200,000 with a refund of $210,801. Three other entities will be collecting more than $100,000 West Chester Township, $164,486; Middletown City Schools, $120,814; and Hamilton City Schools, $112,919. For calculating and distributing real estate tax collections to local governments, the state legislature sets the fee that county auditors collect from those levy funds to pay for their administrative costs. It would not be possible to run a yearly surplus, and twice return amounts of more than $1 million, without a fundamental change in business practices and a fundamental belief in conservative principles. By 2010, Reynolds had cut office expenditures to a 10-year low and continues to reduce his general fund budget. In 2011, Reynolds had reduced his office budget by 45 percent from $6.1 million in 2008 to $3.4 million. Through technology and innovation,

2 however, the office has continued to serve taxpayers at a high level and meet all statutory obligations. When someone votes for a tax levy, I m sure they have no idea a small portion of the millage increase goes toward administering the tax, Reynolds said. By streamlining my office we re doing our part to make sure more of that money stays at the local level whether for schools, cities, townships, libraries, parks or county agencies. Aspects of the fundamental change that Reynolds brought to the Auditor s Office can be seen in the areas of technology, innovation, transparency, collaboration, oversight and advocacy. Technology Innovation Financial Web Portal: Shortly after Reynolds became Auditor, the office created a web portal, a web-based communication tool that interconnects the Auditor with local government entities and keeps financial information flowing clearly and quickly. It s estimated that use of the web portal saves our office $10,000-$15,000 per year in materials and employee resources. New County Financial System: Our office is implementing the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) financial solution for the County. The County financial system has been a piecemeal operation that duplicates resources, adds a tremendous amount of paperwork and complicates the payment process. The ERP solution, in contrast, will allow for electronic payments that will eliminate over 60,000 paper checks annually. Over the next five years, this ERP solution is projected to save Butler County taxpayers millions of dollars. Online Dog Tag Sales: Our office is also taking advantage of technology to facilitate online dog tag sales. Many dog owners in the county have taken advantage of this feature since it was implemented in 2009, saving the county money in reduced processing time and saving the public money on postage. It is a double financial win for taxpayers in our county and a convenient service as well. In-House Real Estate Reappraisal: Reynolds took an innovative approach to the 2014 countywide real estate reappraisal by bringing most of the work in-house and using industryspecific software to streamline the process. In so doing, the Auditor s Office is projecting to save approximately $1.5 million and just earned an international award from Tyler Technologies (Tyler Public Sector Excellence Award) for its integrated use of Tyler s CLT Appraisal Services and Tyler Verify desktop review software in the 2014 property revaluation. Off-Year Reappraisal: Following the state-mandated property reappraisal in 2008 which was nearly completed when Reynolds took office, the Auditor s Office conducted an unprecedented off-year property revaluation in 2009 which resulted in an average county-wide residential value drop of 4.7 percent due to the economic downturn and its negative effect on housing prices. The revaluation was done in-house and was countywide. We had two choices, Reynolds said. We could keep the higher values on the books or we could fairly and conservatively value properties and in so doing put a few dollars back in homeowners pockets.

3 Transparency Online Expenditure Search: In July 2008, a mere three months after Reynolds took office, the online expenditure search tool became operational on the Auditor s website, providing citizens more transparency on how their tax dollars are spent. Store Verification Results: Consumers are now just a couple of mouse clicks away from finding out which stores are complying with county price verification inspections and which are not after the Auditor s Office began displaying testing results online in Levy Calculator: In an effort to help property owners understand the impact of proposed levies on their tax bills, prior to an election the Auditor s Office posts an estimate of the cost. We are all familiar with seeing levy information described based on a $100,000 property, said Reynolds. By using the calculator, those voters who are homeowners can see specifically the financial impact a levy will have on their taxes whether they own a $65,000 home or a $350,000 home. Collaboration Surplus Vehicle Donated: Since taking office, Reynolds has championed the need to share resources and work collaboratively with other government entities. He followed up on his pledge by donating a surplus vehicle to the Animal Shelter in Dog Warden Julie Holmes said Animal Control was hoping to receive a grant to replace two worn out vehicles with a new one. The grant wasn t granted. Her wish was, however. We can t thank Roger Reynolds enough for this generous gift, Holmes said. This will allow us to auction off our other two vehicles and replace them with the auditor s van which has lower miles. Reynolds said the van was available because it was no longer needed to support a field office, which was eliminated through improved efficiencies and streamlining in the Auditor s Office. Consumer Fraud Stopped: Working with the county Prosecutor and Sheriff as well as the state Department of Agriculture, Reynolds helped ensure that charges were filed in 2010 against a Liberty Township man for two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts involving theft and deception for allegedly putting magnets on scales at an Oxford livestock store. Working with Lakota Schools: In July 2010, Reynolds presented Lakota with a check for $4.7 million. The check was for property tax revenue collected from new businesses located in special tax increment financing districts, also known as TIFs. The TIF districts were created to self-fund the cost of capital infrastructure to attract new business development. The schools benefit by receiving a negotiated portion of tax revenue from the TIF districts. Even though this goes beyond the usual role of our office, I am glad that our staff was able to provide their expertise to resolve the payment delays, and very happy that Lakota is now able to apply $4.7 million to their budget shortfall, Reynolds said at the time.

4 Oversight Advocacy Assessment Illegally Applied: In 2010, Butler County taxpayers collectively began benefitting a minimum of $200,000 per year following an auditor review of a conservation assessment that had inappropriately collected more than $2.3 million from property owners since Auditor Reynolds questioned the legal foundation of a resolution first passed in 1996 by the County Board of Commissioners and renewed each year thereafter that levied an assessment on county homeowners to pay a county general fund obligation to the Miami Conservancy District. The county Prosecutor s Office concurred with the auditor that the language of the commissioners resolution had no basis in law and therefore the assessment could no longer be collected. The assessment had collected more than $207,000 each year since 2005 and averaged $161,408 in the years prior to Voted Levy Never Voted On: When Reynolds took office he believed strongly that more stringent internal controls were needed in county government. That belief again benefited county taxpayers in 2011 when for the first time in over 30 years County tax bills received in 2012 did not include a tax for the Miami Conservancy levy. Following an internal review of the validity of the Miami Conservancy levy placed on county tax bills, Reynolds sought an opinion from the Ohio Department of Tax Equalization. The internal review found that a levy that had been listed as a voted levy was, in fact, never voted on by county residents. The Auditor s review found that this error, going back to at least 1976, generated over $4 million in unauthorized taxes. Working for Seniors: Reynolds urged the Ohio Senate to expand Ohio s Homestead Exemption in May of 2008 and new legislation was passed that allowed more seniors to benefit from the exemption. Protecting Consumers: Urging consumers to be cautious when selling their gold and other precious metals by weight, Reynolds pulled scales out of service that failed inspection. The company, which had set up shop for a special weekend show, acquired a new scale the next day and passed a new inspection. Consumers in Butler County should make sure before going ahead with any transaction that the scale being used is certified by the Auditor s Office. Consumers really must be wary of these businesses, Reynolds said. This company did not notify us that they were coming into the county and the scales were off in favor of the business. Fees Returned to Taxing Districts 2nd Half REA Tax Year 2012 Collect 2013 Butler County: Developmental Disabilities Board $ 87, Children Services Agency 58, County General Fund 56,144.97

5 Mental Health Board 43, Senior Citizens 38, Total Butler County: 284, Townships: West Chester Township 164, Liberty Township 60, Fairfield Township 26, Ross Township 4, Morgan Township 4, Madison Township 3, Hanover Township 3, Reily Township 1, Milford Township 1, Oxford Township 1, St Clair Township 1, Wayne Township 1, Lemon Township 1, Total Townships: 277, School Districts: Lakota CSD 402, Fairfield CSD 210, Middletown CSD 120, Hamilton CSD 112, Talawanda CSD 82, Edgewood CSD 69, Ross LSD 42, Monroe LSD 38, Madison CSD 23, Princeton CSD 16, New Miami LSD 4, Southwest LSD 1, Mason LSD Northwest LSD College Corner LSD Prebble Shawnee LSD Total School Districts: 1,127, Villages & Cities: Monroe 25, Hamilton 23,675.06

6 Fairfield 20, Middletown 16, Trenton 5, Oxford 4, New Miami Seven Mile Millville College Corner Somerville Jacksonburg 5.61 Total Villages and Cities: 97, Joint Vocational Schools: Butler Tech 48, Great Oak 1, Miami Valley Total JVS: 49, Libraries and Parks: Metroparks 14, Midpointe Public Library 11, Lane Public Library 9, Libraries and Parks: 35, GRAND TOTAL FEES RETURNED: 1,873, Fees Returned to Taxing Districts Tax Years Butler County: Developmental Disabilities Board $ 184, Children Services Agency 136, County General Fund 132, Senior Citizens 90, Mental Health Board 87, Miami Conservancy* 13, Total Butler County: 644,139.45

7 Townships: West Chester Township 298, Liberty Township 102, Fairfield Township 50, Ross Township 10, Morgan Township 9, Hanover Township 7, Madison Township 7, Milford Township 4, Reily Township 4, St Clair Township 4, Oxford Township 4, Wayne Township 3, Lemon Township 2, Total Townships: 509, School Districts: Lakota CSD 928, Fairfield CSD 447, Middletown CSD 286, Hamilton CSD 269, Talawanda CSD 182, Edgewood CSD 151, Monroe LSD 95, Ross LSD 94, Madison CSD 54, Princeton CSD 33, New Miami LSD 10, Southwest LSD 4, Mason LSD 1, Northwest LSD College Corner LSD Prebble Shawnee LSD Total School Districts: 2,560, Villages & Cities: Hamilton 53, Fairfield 47, Middletown 37, Monroe 36, Oxford 9, Trenton 8,711.68

8 New Miami 1, Seven Mile Millville College Corner Somerville Jacksonburg Total Villages and Cities: 195, Joint Vocational Schools: Butler Tech 115, Great Oak 2, Miami Valley Total JVS: 118, Libraries and Parks: Metroparks 24, Midpointe Public Library 19, Lane Public Library 16, Total Libraries and Parks: 61, GRAND TOTAL FEES RETURNED: 4,089, * Only