Another lawsuit has been filed related to the Uhrichsville Landlord registration fee, this time a landlord is seeking to recover paid fees.
In April 2020, Uhrichsville council adopted ordinance 7-20 requiring all city residential rental owners to pay an annual registration fee starting at $25 per unit for the remainder of the first year. The fee increased to $50 per unit beginning the next year. Under the ordinance, noncompliance could result in a misdemeanor charge.
A lawsuit was filed in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas court and a decision was made December 10th, as was reiterated by Kevin Barker at a December 13th council meeting as he asked administration to refund the fees.
“The court declared that the rental registration fees adopted and collected by the city are illegal and unconstitutional taxes.”
On December 19th, Kevin sent a letter to Uhrichsville Law Director Jeff Merklin to formally request a refund of all illegal taxes paid by himself and his father, Gerald, for all years. Per a release, with no city response, the Barker’s filed the December 23rd lawsuit
“Seeking a refund of all the illegal taxes paid to Uhrichsville since 2020. If the city wants to make an argument that they get to keep the illegal taxes, they will now have to make it to the judge who presided over this case.”
Merklin filed a response on behalf of the city on January 2nd, stating that the “plaintiff’s claims are limited or completely timed barred by the statute of limitations set forth in Ohio Revised Code, which states no recovery shall be had unless the action is brought within one year after the taxes or assessments are collected.” The response asked the court to dismiss the case.
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