How Much Would Maumee's 1.25% School Income Tax Cost You?

If you own a home in Maumee, the school levy on your November 3 ballot is not figured on your house. Issue 5 is a 1.25 percent earned income tax, which means it is charged on what you earn, and a retired couple in a paid-off home could owe nothing on it, while their working neighbor owes about $625 a year on $50,000 of earned income. That is the opposite of how most school levies work, and it changes who the cost lands on. What it costs, and how Sylvania's different approach on the same ballot compares, comes next.

I pulled both measures from the districts' own resolutions and set the cost against what homes in each town sell for. This is a cost guide and nothing more. I am not telling you how to vote.

What is Maumee asking for on November 3?

Maumee City Schools Issue 5 is a 1.25 percent earned income tax. Earned income means wages, salaries and net self-employment income. It does not include Social Security, pensions or other retirement income, so the levy reaches earners and spares retirees.

The district says it is deficit spending by about $4 million a year and that the tax would raise roughly $6 million annually. The superintendent has said the board chose an income tax over a 6.9 mill property tax partly out of concern for older residents on fixed incomes, since a property tax would have hit them regardless of whether they still draw a paycheck. The tax would begin in 2027 if approved. The district has also said that if the measure fails, it would have to submit a reduction plan to the state by November 30.

How much would the Maumee income tax cost you?

Because it is charged on income, the cost scales with your paycheck, not your home. The district's own example is a $50,000 earner paying about $625 a year. Run the same rate up the ladder and a household earning $80,000 in earned income would pay about $1,000 a year.

The part that surprises people is the bottom of the ladder. A retired Maumee household living on Social Security and a pension has no earned income, so it would owe nothing on this levy, even in a valuable home. A Maumee home sells for about $318,148 at the midpoint this year, and that number does not enter the calculation at all. Two neighbors in identical houses can owe very different amounts, or one can owe nothing, depending entirely on their income. That is the feature of an income tax, and it is why the board reached for it instead of a property tax.

How is Sylvania's levy different?

Sylvania is on the same ballot with a different structure. It pairs a 1 percent earned income tax with a property tax reduction of about 1.7 mills, which the district estimates would lower property taxes by about $35 for every $100,000 of assessed home value. In other words, Sylvania is trading one tax for another: raising an income tax while cutting a property tax. The measure would raise about $18 million.

That swap is worth understanding if you own in Sylvania, because the two pieces move in opposite directions. A working Sylvania homeowner would pay the new 1 percent on earned income but see the property tax on the home come down. A retired Sylvania owner with no earned income would see mostly the property tax cut. On a Sylvania home near the $365,000 midpoint, the property reduction is modest in dollar terms, and the income side depends on the paycheck. The full math on Sylvania's income tax is in the Sylvania schools earned income tax breakdown.

Income tax versus property tax: who pays?

This is the distinction that decides your cost, so it is worth setting the two measures side by side.

District	Type	Rate	Charged on	Effect on a homeowner
Maumee (Issue 5)	Earned income tax	1.25%	Wages and self-employment income	Adds an income tax; home value not taxed
Sylvania	Income tax plus property cut	1% income	Earned income, with a property tax reduction	Income tax up, property tax down about $35 per $100,000 assessed

Source: Maumee City Schools and Sylvania City Schools board resolutions and ballot notices, verified October 25, 2026. Home values are NORIS MLS single-family closings in 2026, computed by Adam Geuy from the MLS export, shown as context; an income tax is not charged on home value.

Read the table and the question for each household becomes clear. In Maumee, the question is how much your household earns, because the home is not in the formula. In Sylvania, there are two moving parts, and whether you come out ahead depends on the balance between your earned income and your property tax. In both towns, a retired owner on Social Security and a pension is treated very differently from a working owner in the same house.

The board's choice between the two tax types is the whole story of who pays. A 6.9 mill property tax, the alternative the Maumee board set aside, would have been charged on every home by its county assessed value, reaching the retired owner and the working owner alike. The 1.25 percent income tax the board put forward instead reaches only earned income, which shifts the cost toward working households and away from those living on retirement income. Neither raises the same dollars from the same people. That is the trade on the ballot, and it is why the dollar figure alone does not tell you whether a given household pays more or less under one type than the other.

When do I vote, and how do I check my own cost?

The calendar has dates inside this week. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is October 27, 2026. Early in-person voting runs through November 2. Ohio no longer counts mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day, so returning your ballot to your county board of elections or an official drop box by 7:30 p.m. on November 3 is the safe path. Lucas and Wood County boards of elections list the exact issues for your address.

For your own number, the income tax is simple arithmetic on your earned income: multiply it by the rate, 1.25 percent for Maumee or 1 percent for Sylvania. For the Sylvania property side, the county auditor's levy estimator will run your parcel. In the conversations I have with owners this time of year, the mistake is almost always reading an income tax levy as if it were charged on the house. It is not. For these two measures, your paycheck, not your home, is what the school district is asking about, with Sylvania's property cut as the one piece that does touch the house. That single distinction is the one I most want you to walk away with, because it changes the number by a lot.

Run your own number

The examples above are the districts' own, and your household is not the example. Send me your town and a rough earned income and I will show you what the levy would cost you, and for Sylvania what the property side would do, before the October 27 absentee deadline. If you want the home-value picture too, the Sylvania schools earned income tax breakdown covers that district in depth, is Sylvania worth the premium over Toledo sets the price context, and the Maumee neighborhoods and what homes sold for shows the market behind the ballot. For a read on your own home, start with a home value estimate or call me at 419.540.8659.

Adam Geuy, Realtor - Blacktree Realty. ABR, PSA, SRS. Greater Toledo, Ohio. 419.540.8659.

This is a nonpartisan cost explainer, not an endorsement of or opposition to any ballot issue. Levy figures are each district's own estimates, taken from board resolutions, ballot notices and reporting and verified October 25, 2026; they are subject to certification and your actual cost depends on your earned income and, for the property piece, your parcel's assessed value. Home values are NORIS MLS single-family closings in 2026, shown as context only; an income tax is not charged on home value. Confirm your exact issues and cost with the Lucas or Wood County board of elections and the county auditor. Informational only, not tax, legal or voting advice.