Republican and Democrat Cincinnati City Council members are busy recently cutting property taxes in the city, and now Democrat Bob Drake suggests they do the same in Hamilton County. Drake, a candidate for county treasurer, says he has a plan that would cut home and business property taxes by 7 percent.

He would do it by having county taxpayers take advantage of the so-called Treasurer's Optional Payment plan, (TOPP) under which residents - rather than paying annual property taxes in two large payments - pay through monthly installments. The county now keeps the interest generated by those early monthly payments, adding to the general fund. Drake suggests that in the 12th month, the interest earned from all those previous monthly payments be calculated and the 12th monthly payment be reduced by that amount. That would essentially be a tax cut of about 7 percent.

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