District 1 voters: Why you should select Nick Slabaugh to represent you on city council

I’d like to encourage those of you who live in District 1 to vote for Nick Slabaugh in the Columbus city election this fall. District 1 encompasses most of downtown, as well as part of the State Street and Jonathan Moore Pike corridors. Download the city council district map here.

Nick cares about the issues you care about … issues such as the lack of affordable housing and living-wage jobs, homelessness, mental health care, promoting small business, and more. He’s knowledgeable. He talks to people. He asks questions. He gets answers. He has a plan to make this community better. Check out his views on the issues here.

His opponent, Christopher Bartels, keeps making a particular campaign promise that he has virtually no chance of keeping. He says that as a city council member, he’ll be able to lower your property taxes. In addition to telling people that face to face, he told The Republic via answers he submitted for a story that published on Oct. 7: “With my experience in small business, real estate, and local housing programs I will work to lower property taxes…”

With his experience in real estate and local housing, Bartels knows that there are two factors that go into determining your property tax bill (the tax rate and the assessed value of your property – both determined by county government, not city).

And while the city of Columbus sets a property tax rate for those living within city limits that is just one small piece of the county’s tax calculation, the city tax rate just passed by city council is “the lowest it’s been in 10 years”, according to longtime council member Frank Miller in this story. This is something Bartels should know.

He should also know that the current county property tax rate is among the lowest it has been in the past 12 years.

So, the tax rate here has nothing to do with why your property tax bill have been soaring.

The problem is something city government has no control over: assessments. Those have gone through the roof. For example, there was a 19 percent increase in the average sale price of a Bartholomew County home in just one year, from 2020 to 2021, according to county assessor Ginny Whipple, in a story in the Jan. 15, 2022 Republic.

The Bartholomew County assessors office determines how much it thinks your property is worth. The city has absolutely no say in that.

Unlike his opponent, Nick Slabaugh doesn’t make campaign promises that have virtually zero chance of coming about because the position he’s running for has virtually no control over those promises.

If you want honest, knowledgeable representation in District 1, vote for Nick Slabaugh.

Note: While the election is Nov. 7, early voting has started. For details on when and where to vote, click here.