What Does Avon Do With Your Tax Dollars? Find Out With New Tool

AVON, OH — Perhaps the most common question civic leaders get is, "What do you do with my tax dollars? How are they used?" It's a question the city of Avon hopes will be answered using a new financial transparency tool.

The city launched its new financial transparency app recently. The tool, which is effectively a detailed slideshow with info on how the city operates and where tax money goes, can be accessed for free through the Avon municipal website.

To give readers an idea of what information is available through the app, Patch perused the slideshow. The city notes that its total 2017 revenue was $32.11 million, the majority of which came from municipal income taxes ($17.81 million). Other sources of incomes were property taxes ($4.5 million), intergovernmental ($2.92 million), charges for services ($2.02 million), and license and permit charges ($1.12 million) among many other revenue streams.

Approximately 20,000 people work in the city of Avon. The income tax rate in the city is 1.75 percent. The city noted the amount of income tax revenue increased over the past two years by about 17 percent, an increase officials attributed to the addition of more businesses to the city. Businesses pay about $13.77 million of the total $17.81 million gathered in income taxes.

Where does all that revenue go? The largest operating expense for Avon is the police, fire, and ambulance service, which consumed about $10.69 million of the city's budget in 2017. The second largest expenditure was debt-service and retirement benefits, which account for about $7.75 million of the city's budget.

Capital outlay ($4.45 million) and general government operation ($3.51 million) were the next largest expenses, followed by debt service interest ($2.97 million), transportation ($2.58 million), community environment ($2.05 million) and community leisure activities ($1.83 million).

In total, Avon spent about $35.88 million during fiscal year 2017.

The financial transparency tool for fiscal year 2017 can be accessed by clicking here.

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