WARREN — Trumbull Commissioners are proposing to send a letter requesting state legislators to place a moratorium on a reappraisal of properties that is scheduled to take place in Trumbull county later this year in order to slow any property tax increase that could occur as a result of the appraisal.

Commissioners Tony Bernard and Rick Hernandez made a request to several superintendents attending Wednesday’s regular county commissioners meeting to support the county’s efforts by, perhaps, assisting in the drafting of the letter.

Bernard added that he has broached the idea to a few township and village leaders over the last several days.

“We will be asking our state reps to freeze our current property evaluations,” Bernard said. “In the last few years, we’ve seen at least a 40%, perhaps 50%, increase in our property bills. Our senior citizens and people on fixed incomes cannot stand the potential increase.”

Benard suggested if reappraisals are done property values will inevitably increase, which will cause property taxes to increase.

Hernandez supports the idea of a letter being sent down to the state.

“This is what is causing the whole debacle with those who want to abolish property taxes,” Hernandez said. “That would be a travesty and a devastation to not only our schools, but also to our township, villages and cities.”

Bernard added that the state has more than $40 billion in its rainy day fund.

“I saw a couple weeks ago, the state collected more than $1.2 billion in sales tax revenues over and above what they thought they were going to collect,” he said. “I have been an advocate that the county should give us back more than one percent of the sales tax collected. They should provide the counties 2 % to 3% of the sales tax money collected.”

Bernard added the county needs to let the state know that they are not going to continuously allow them to increase property taxes on people that cannot afford it.

This will be in addition to the commissioners plan to pass a resolution next week that would increase the deduction that residents in owner-occupied households from 2 1/2% to 5%.

“That would help the homeowners on their property taxes starting in the 2027 tax year,” Hernandez said.

The commissioners are expected to offer additional tax relief next year by voting next week to pass a resolution that will increase property tax deductions by 2 1/2% on owner-occupied homes.

“The schools may not like this and the trustees may not like this, but this is a small chunk of what the homestead would have been,” he said.

Bernard said the board was waiting to make a decision until they saw if the group that was seeking to get a property tax referendum on the November ballot was successful. It did not collect enough signatures, so any effort to get a statewide vote now will wait until 2027.

“If the property tax goes away, then what?” he questioned. “We will help you go to the state and say you need to give more money to the schools, to the townships and to the counties.

“Everybody has the money, except us,” he continued. “We need to get them to give it back to us. It is our tax dollars.”

Hernandez noted they are constantly bombarded with questions from Trumbull residents about their increasing property tax bills.

A.J. Calderone, superintendent of LaBrae Local School District, noted a reservation he has about the proposed letter being sent to state legislators.

“If we are asking them to freeze valuations, one of the historical lessons of property taxes and, why this method is so popular across the country for raising revenue is they are great elasticity,” he said. “They grow, regardless of what is happening in the greater economy, they grow.”

Calderone would like the commissioners to make sure there are detailed recommendations in the letter.

Ashley Handrych, superintendent of the Lakeview Local School, added that there has been property tax reforms.

“I ask you to consider what the 2.5% means to each school district,” Handrych said. “I would ask in that letter we request that they back fill that 2.5% if that is what you decide to do. At least we get out in front of it.”

Ed Stark, superintendent of the Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities, noted all of his levy is fixed sum levies.

“This 2.5% would impact us directly,” he said. “All of our levies are fixed sum levies. So when a levy is passed, we don’t get any increases as property taxes increase. This owner-occupancy roll back would impact us directly.”

“We are already deficit spending,” Stark said. “We deficit spent last year about a million dollars, because of the increase in federal medicaid costs.”

Stark said they are already looking at a freeze in hiring.

Bernard said his goal is to slow the state down in any effort to increase property taxes.

“My goal is to get them at the table to talk.”

He noted the commissioners will submit their proposal for a letter to Trumbull’s township association.

“Our whole goal is to help seniors on fixed incomes, veterans and others who can’t afford increased property taxes,” Benard said.