Finance

Ms. Laurie Pinney, Fiscal Officer

The Fiscal Officer is a four (4) year term that begins on April 1 after the previous November election and expires on March 31. The Fiscal Officer position is on the ballot along with one (1) trustee. Ms. Pinney won her election November, 2011 running unopposed to continue as Township Fiscal Officer effective April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2016. The Fiscal Officer is required to provide four (4) fiscal reports per year at a Trustee Meeting.

The dates of those meetings are:

January 19,
April 19,
July 19 and
October 18, 2012.

Funding to operate all services provided to residents in Richfield Township comes from property taxes, motor vehicle license tax, gasoline tax, permissive motor vehicle license tax, park fees and zoning fees. Periodically inheritance tax is also collected and income may be derived from lease agreements as well. The inheritance tax is due to expire December 31, 2012. In 2005, a Joint Economic Development Agreement with the Village of Richfield was reached that will produce additional income for the Township.

Another major source of income comes in the form of specific levies, which are voted on by the residents. In Richfield Township's case, there are currently three (3) levies:

Road and Bridge Levy,
Police Protection Levy and
Fire/EMS Levy.

The general inside levy is the same throughout all communities

and is the only levy that residents DO NOT vote on.

REAL ESTATE PROPERTY ANALYSIS FOR TOWNSHIP FUNDING PURPOSES

To help you understand how your Township receives funding for the services that it provides, you need to understand the property taxes you pay.

Everyone who owns property pays taxes twice a year. Indicated on your tax bill is an Estimated Market Value (what the County Auditor has appraised your property at) and the Taxable Value (35% of the Estimated Market Value). Neither of these figures represents what the market value of your property may be.

Millage is a percentage of every $1,000.00 of estimated market value (this figure determines what portion of your property tax each agency, government or school will receive). With the exception of the general inside milage, every registered voter has the right to vote on all levies.

An Example of a Richfield Township Home

$100,000.00 Estimated Market Value
$35,000.00 Taxable Value (35% of the estimated market value)
$1,964.00 Annual Real Estate Taxes after State of Ohio Credit

To obtain specific appraisal and tax information about your property, visit the Summit County Fiscal Officer's Website: http://fiscaloffice.summitoh.net

Using the example cited above, the following are the amounts distributed based on $1,964.00 collected on a Richfield Township residence with an estimated market value of $100,000.00

Summit County: 21% $412.00
Richfield Township: 15% $295.00
Revere Local School District: 56% $1,100.00
Cuyahoga Valley JVSD (Cuyahoga Valley Career Center: 3% $59.00
Akron/Summit Library: 3% $59.00
Metro Parks Serving Summit County: 2% $39.00

The following chart displays the percentage tax distribution based on our example.

FUNDS & LEVIES TO RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP

The 15% of the tax distribution represents the Township's portion from property taxes AND "voted upon" levies.

As needed, the Township Trustees analyze the financial condition of the Township and ask voters to pass levies for specific services.

The definitions of levies are:

RENEWAL LEVY: A renewal levy brings in the same amount of money that an expiring levy generates and will not raise property taxes.

REPLACEMENT LEVY: A replacement levy generates more money because it takes the place of a levy that is collected on the basis of old property values. A replacement levy raised the taxes to reflect the current market value of the property.

Unlike the general inside millage that every town collects, the funds collected from the police, fire and road levies can only be spent on those specified services. The general inside millage levy funding can be distributed to any service including the administration of the township government and generally pays for all salaries and benefits for elected and non-elected individuals, utilities, equipment, trash collections and capital improvement projects.