CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Chillicothe City Council meets at 7 p.m. tonight in a new home, the second-floor ballroom of the renovated Armory in Yoctangee Park, and the headline item on the agenda is a proposed 12% cut in the city’s property tax rate.
The resolution before council, at second reading, would reduce the city’s General Fund millage by 12% for tax year 2026, with the bills payable in 2027. It carries an emergency clause, which would put the reduction into effect immediately if it passes.
The proposal came out of council’s Finance Committee, chaired by at-large Councilman Jeff Creed, which voted in September to move the reduction on to the full council. Creed has said the cut answers a sharp run-up in property values — roughly 29% to 30% across Ross County in the latest reappraisal — and follows a 15% city millage reduction adopted last year.
Even with the 12% cut, Creed has said, most city property tax bills would still rise slightly, by about $5 to $10, because of the higher valuations — but the city would absorb a revenue loss of a couple hundred thousand dollars rather than let the full increase land on taxpayers at once.
The rest of tonight’s agenda includes a Water Shop land transfer, an SBA Towers cell tower lease, a change to the Clerk of Council’s pay, a refuse truck reimbursement, a repayment item for self-contained breathing apparatus, and a change to how the city bids burial services.
Tonight is council’s first meeting in the Armory, at 199 Alexander Road. The city announced the move from City Hall earlier this month and said a fully operational lift provides stair-free access to the ballroom. Council meetings are open to the public.
WATCH: Council takes up a 12 percent property tax cut — our full report is in the video below.
