Dayton city officials passed a new higher property tax rate for fiscal year 2026-27.
The rate approved at the Sept. 8 council meeting is .421 per $100 of assessed property value, representing the compensating rate plus a 4% increase allowed by the state (without triggering a public vote). In the last two years, the city took less than the maximum, with .398 in fiscal year 2024-25 and .399 last fiscal year (2025-26).
Property taxes are broken down into several categories. The first and usually largest chunk of your tax bill is real property tax, sometimes referred to as real estate property tax. This is essentially a tax on everything you own that’s nailed down. For residents, this means houses and other real estate property. For businesses, this means office buildings and other buildings and facilities used to conduct business.
Tangible personal property, on the other hand, is another form of property that isn’t real estate. Depending on where you live, residents may not be taxed on personal property at all–this will vary by jurisdiction.
Depending on where you live, other tax-adjacent fees may apply.
How do property taxes work?
“We are allowed to take a 4% increase over the previous value, which is important because our costs are all going up,” said Dayton City Administrator Jay Fossett. “Inflationary costs are going up, so if we don’t do that, we’re actually losing money.”
In June, Dayton passed its budget for fiscal year 2026-27. The budget allotted $9 million to the General Fund, a 39% decrease over the prior year. Officials noted the end of the American Rescue Plan funds, a federal fund designed to relieve some of the financial burden on cities from the COVID-19 pandemic. The city also carried over less money from its previous budget this year, dropping from $5 million to $2 million.
Adding to this, Fossett said inflation and the rising costs of goods and services are a concern.
“Why we were asking for the 4% increase is because the economy is not in the best place as it was last year, and we see inflation at a rate higher than 4% possibly,” he said. “So, we want to make sure that we aren’t losing money. Everything we’re buying — materials, fuel, salaries — is increasing by at least 4%…We were looking at the economy, and we felt that was the safest thing to do.”
