To the editor:

It’s that time of year and I just received my outrageous property tax bill (again!) of which 57% goes to the United Local School District.

Never mind that 25 years ago, the Ohio Supreme Court held that the state’s public school financing system using property taxes violated the Ohio Constitution (DeRolph vs State) yet it remains in practice and ignored by politicians of both parties.

Never mind that under current U.S. law, unrealized gains are not taxable. Why are property taxes the only exception? Never mind that the district looks to collect a more than $20 million dollar windfall from a Nexus pipeline lease and instead of applying some of this as a rebate or reduction against the future taxation of us loyal taxpayers (yes, they can do that), they opted to seek out an additional $25 million dollar grant from the state to build a new school complex. (Note that the state “grants” nothing more than taxpayer money taken out of a different pocket.)

Never mind that in 2019 United Local Schools Superintendent Lance Hostetler stated in regard to this spending, “District taxpayers have voted against raising tax rates a number of times through the years and we have proactively pursued and planned creative options to fund our local share,” –i.e., never mind what the taxpayers say.

Is a brand-new shiny school desirable? Absolutely. Necessary? Debatable. I’ve read that they are using “high quality concrete” and it will last 70 years. Never mind that at the rate technology is geometrically increasing it will likely be functionally obsolete in less than 25 years.

Ohio taxpayers are paying a higher property tax percentage than 39 of our 50 sister states with most other states seeking to lower or eliminate such taxes. However, not our Governor DeWine, who just vetoed any such efforts included in the latest budget.

Most of what is going on in Columbus now to help us is too little too late, which is why it has come to the point that a populous driven constitutional amendment to eliminate property taxes (Ohio Eliminate and Prohibit Taxes on Real Property Initiative (2026)) is moving toward the ballot box with voter signatures now being collected.

I intend to sign it, and I encourage other taxed-to-the-hilt citizens to do the same. Taxpayers are always told to suck it up, adjust your lifestyle as needed, and pay your taxes or else. And so, to our state government and all those institutions which will endlessly whine and whine about this amendment instead of seeking out budgetary fraud, waste, and priorities, I say, “Never Mind.”

Bryan Fuller,

Hanoverton