Terrace Park property owners will again pay $0.70 per $1,000 of taxable value to fund the village's shade tree program after council passed Ordinance 8-1 at its Tuesday, Aug. 11 meeting.

The rate is unchanged from prior years.

The assessment, collected in two installments due in December 2026 and June 2027, pays for planting, trimming and removing shade trees in public rights-of-way. It also covers blight and disease control. The Village Treasurer and Clerk will certify the amounts to the Hamilton County Auditor for collection alongside regular property tax bills.

The $0.70 rate has been in place since 2019, when council raised it from $0.40 to cover a roughly $35,000 shortfall that had been pulled from the General Fund and streets fund. At the time, council member Lauren Ingebritson estimated the higher rate would cost the average homeowner about $105 per year based on a $150,000 assessed value. The per-home cost depends on current assessed values, which have risen since 2019.

Property owned by the federal government, the State of Ohio, the Village of Terrace Park, the Terrace Park Charitable Trust and public utilities is exempt. The village itself pays 2% of the total program cost plus the cost of work at intersections.

Terrace Park maintains about 3,000 catalogued trees. Council member Regina Sharp reported in September 2023 that only about 10% still needed removal, down from 30% at the height of an aging-maple crisis. According to 2019 council records, roughly 500 maples planted in the 1950s began aging out simultaneously, driving the need for the higher assessment rate.

Mayor Tom Tepe called the $0.70 rate "the minimum amount needed" when it was first adopted in August 2019 and said the village "can't continue to borrow from one for the benefit of another because the one that gets short changed will eventually suffer."

In October 2025, council authorized a contract with First Response Tree Service for fall tree work at a cost not to exceed $46,485.

Four new volunteers join EMS and fire departments

Council also confirmed Mayor Tepe's appointment of four volunteer first responders at the same meeting. Chris Dixon was appointed as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician in the village's EMS department under Resolution 8-1. Joey Beyersdorfer, Bryan Kurth and Darragh McGuire were appointed as volunteer firefighters under Resolution 8-2.

Terrace Park's EMS and fire departments are staffed entirely by volunteers. All four appointments and the shade tree ordinance were advanced to a third and final reading by waiving the three-reading requirement, according to village council documents.

Village Clerk Katherine Lyons certified posting of the ordinance and resolutions through Friday, Aug. 28. Residents can check terracepark.org for the next regular council meeting date.