Beavercreek voters are deciding Tuesday whether to approve the city’s first municipal income tax: a 1% levy on wages paired with cuts to nine property-tax levies that fund police, parks and streets. Beavercreek is one of three Ohio cities without a municipal income tax, according to the Dayton Daily News; if the measure passes, the city would join the others that have one.
Beavercreek's Income Tax Proposal
Beavercreek remains one of only three Ohio cities without a municipal income tax, per the same Dayton Daily News report.
Under the proposal, Beavercreek would tax wages earned in the city at 1% and cut its property-tax rate by 50%, according to the Dayton Daily News. City council has proposed repealing nine property-tax levies covering police, parks and streets while maintaining existing services. If voters approve the measure, the income tax would take effect July 1, 2027.
Who Would Actually Pay It
Who would contribute to the tax is a central point of debate. City Manager Pete Landrum told the Dayton Daily News he estimates 25,000 nonresidents work in Beavercreek and use city services without contributing income-tax revenue to the city. Save Our City 2026, the campaign supporting the measure, projects the tax would raise about $19.6 million a year. It says Beavercreek residents who already pay at least a 1% municipal income tax where they work would owe nothing additional to the city.
A Miami University study cited on the City of Beavercreek website estimates that 68% of the tax revenue would come from people who live in other communities and likely already pay income taxes where they reside; Save Our City also cites that estimate. The proposed tax would not apply to pensions, Social Security or capital gains, the Dayton Daily News reported. Landrum also told the newspaper that property-tax revenue struggles to keep pace with inflation because only new construction adds to what the city collects.
Commutes, property taxes and a different Ohio vote
The commute figures offer another view of who works in Beavercreek, but they are not an estimate of who would pay the proposed tax. The City of Beavercreek’s employment-inflow-and-outflow page, citing OHM Advisors’ Plan Beavercreek project, reports 23,268 people commuting into the city for work and 16,483 residents commuting out; 3,087 people both live and work in Beavercreek. Separately, a 2024 city finance memo says reappraisals did not increase revenue for existing voted levies, distinguishing those levies from inside-millage property-tax revenue.
A different Ohio city’s recent tax vote offers a contrast, not a direct parallel. The Record Herald reported that Washington Court House voters rejected a municipal income-tax measure on Aug. 5, 2025. That proposal would have replaced a 0.2% tax set to expire after the police and fire building was paid off, maintained the city’s 1.95% rate and directed funds to streets, parks and trails. Unlike Beavercreek’s proposal for its first municipal income tax, it would have replaced an existing tax.
Opposition Rooted in Distrust
Some of the resistance traces back to specific city projects. WDTN reported that opposition included a lack of trust stemming from the Shakertown Road widening project and delays on the Factory Road bridge project. That skepticism fueled organized pushback from the Tax Busters PAC, whose treasurer, Auston Hensley, said the group would pursue a charter change to permanently bar the city from collecting an income tax if the measure failed. “We're going to change our city's charter to prohibit city council from ever collecting an income tax again,” Hensley said.
