Change up the taxation playbook

Local voters appear to be in widespread revolt over the current system of taxation. Levies to support fire operations in Port Clinton and southern Huron County failed in this week's primary election. A levy to support renovations and improvements at Norwalk's historic library failed for the second straight election. While some other levies did pass on May 5, the margin of victory was slight in many cases. We cannot recall a time when voters so adamantly indicated they would not support local municipal government operations with their money. That's been the case for several elections now. The property tax revaluations of a few years ago — in which many people's taxes shot up substantially in unvoted-for fashion — must be playing a role in this, along with the current state of the economy, including local gas prices skyrocketing suddenly to nearly $5 per gallon. Regardless of the root causes, as we've been saying for a while now, entities like municipal governments, schools and first responder agencies need to think more creatively about how to generate funds in ways other than property taxes generated through levies. From the local level to state government, reform-minded individuals must put forth proposals and those discussions must be taken seriously. Some local government officials understand this and have brainstormed ideas and implemented other ways of reducing spending and easing the tax burden on residents. We heard another idea this week in a Friday column in the Register from Ottawa County clerk of courts Christopher Enoch. Enoch envisioned tacking on fees to many of the services handled via his clerk's office — titles, liens, foreclosures and the like. Enoch envisioned a sliding scale fee structure, in which high-volume users would be asked to pay a small additional fee, whereas larger entities using local services — especially out-of-state businesses — who use even greater bandwidth of local bureaucracy would be asked to pay larger fees in turn. In essence: you use more, you pay more. He said that it's not going to be a "magic wand" solution to replace property tax money, but that the point is to put a stop to an overreliance on the current taxation playbook in Ohio. We've been glad to see individuals putting forth new taxation ideas in our local area over the past few years, and hope that mindset spreads throughout the state and eventually trickles up to the Statehouse. Editorial board