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(136th General Assembly)
(Substitute
House Bill Number 335)
AN
ACT
To amend section 5705.31 and
to enact section 5705.316 of the Revised Code to limit revenue
increases from inside millage levies occurring due to a reappraisal
or update.
Be
it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
Section
1.
That
section
5705.31
be amended and
section
5705.316
of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec.
5705.31.
The
county auditor shall present to the county budget commission the
annual tax budgets submitted under sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the
Revised Code, together with an estimate prepared by the auditor of
the amount of any state levy, the rate of any school tax levy as
previously determined, the tax commissioner's estimate of the amount
to be received in the county public library fund, the tax rates
provided under section 5705.281 of the Revised Code if adoption of
the tax budget was waived under that section, and such other
information as the commission requests or the tax commissioner
prescribes.
The
budget commission shall examine such budget and, if the taxing
authority is a board of education that has elected to include
projections pursuant to division (E) of section 5705.391 of the
Revised Code, shall examine such projections. Using the budget and,
if applicable, included projections, the budget commission shall
ascertain the total amount proposed to be raised in the county for
the purposes of each subdivision and other taxing units in the county
and the need for those amounts. Except as otherwise provided in this
section, the county budget commission may reduce the amount to be
raised by any levy pursuant to section 5705.32 of the Revised Code.
The
commission shall ascertain that the following levies have been
properly authorized and, if so authorized, shall approve them without
modification:
(A)
All levies in excess of the ten-mill limitation unless the
subdivision or taxing unit requests an amount requiring a lower rate
for the succeeding fiscal year. Such a request for an amount
requiring a lower rate applies only to the succeeding fiscal year
unless the subdivision or taxing unit expressly states that the
request is permanent.
(B)
All levies for unsatisfied debt charges, including levies that remain
necessary to pay notes issued for emergency purposes;
(C)
The levies prescribed by division (B) of sections 742.33 and 742.34
of the Revised Code;
(D)
Except as otherwise provided in this division, a minimum levy within
the ten-mill limitation for the current expense and debt service of
each subdivision or taxing unit, which shall equal two-thirds of the
average levy for current expenses and debt service allotted within
the fifteen-mill limitation to such subdivision or taxing unit during
the last five years the fifteen-mill limitation was in effect unless
such subdivision or taxing unit requests an amount requiring a lower
rate for the succeeding fiscal year, or if it expressed its intent to
forgo collections from such a levy under division (E) of section
5705.29 of the Revised Code. Such a request for an amount requiring a
lower rate applies only to the succeeding fiscal year unless the
subdivision or taxing unit expressly states that the request is
permanent.
Except
as provided in section 5705.312 of the Revised Code, if the levies
required in divisions (B) and (C) of this section for the subdivision
or taxing unit equal or exceed the entire minimum levy of the
subdivision as fixed, the minimum levies of the other subdivisions or
taxing units shall be reduced by the commission to provide for the
levies and an operating levy for the subdivision. Such additional
levy shall be deducted from the minimum levies of each of the other
subdivisions or taxing units, but the operating levy for a school
district shall not be reduced below a figure equivalent to forty-five
per cent of the millage available within the ten-mill limitation
after all the levies in divisions (B) and (C) of this section have
been provided for.
If
a municipal corporation and a township have entered into an
annexation agreement under section 709.192 of the Revised Code in
which they agree to reallocate their shares of the minimum levies
established under this division and if that annexation agreement is
submitted along with the annual tax budget of both the township and
the municipal corporation, then, when determining the minimum levy
under this division, the auditor shall allocate, to the extent
possible, the minimum levy for that municipal corporation and
township in accordance with their annexation agreement.
Divisions
(A) to (D) of this section are mandatory, and commissions shall be
without discretion to reduce such minimum levies except as provided
in such divisions
or as required in section 5705.316 of the Revised Code
.
If
any debt charge is omitted from the budget, the commission shall
include it therein.
Sec.
5705.316.
(A)
As used in this section:
(1)
"Taxes charged and payable" means real property taxes, or
manufactured home taxes assessed pursuant to section 4503.06 of the
Revised Code, that are charged and payable after reductions required
by sections 319.301, 319.302, 323.152, 323.158, 319.304, 4503.065,
and 4503.0610 of the Revised Code.
(2)
"Current taxes charged and payable" means, for a levy, the
taxes charged and payable for the current tax year, in the case of
real property, or the following tax year, in the case of manufactured
or mobile homes on the manufactured home tax list, excluding any
taxes charged and payable against property, or any portion of
property, that was not taxed by the taxing district in the most
recent tax year to which section 5715.24 of the Revised Code applied
in the county, in the case of real property, or in the following tax
year, in the case of manufactured or mobile homes on the manufactured
home tax list.
(3)
"Base taxes charged and payable" means, for a levy, the
taxes charged and payable for the tax year immediately preceding the
current tax year, in the case of real property, or the current tax
year, in the case of manufactured or mobile homes on the manufactured
home tax list, excluding any taxes charged and payable against
property, or any portion of property, that was not taxed by the
taxing district in the most recent tax year to which section 5715.24
of the Revised Code applied in the county, in the case of real
property, or in the following tax year, in the case of manufactured
or mobile homes on the manufactured home tax list.
(4)
"County budget commission" means a joint budget commission
in the context of a taxing unit with territory located in two or more
counties.
(5)
"Inflation factor" means, for a tax year, the greater of
zero per cent or the percentage change in the gross domestic product
deflator computed over the three preceding tax years, as determined
under division (F) of this section.
(6)
"Reappraisal or triennial update" means a tax year in which
section 5715.24 of the Revised Code applies in the county.
(B)
Notwithstanding division (D) of section 133.25 of the Revised Code
and except as provided in division (D) of this section, in September
of each tax year in which a county undergoes a reappraisal or
triennial update, the county budget commission shall adjust the rate
of any levy within the ten-mill limitation so that the increase in
current taxes charged and payable for that levy over the base taxes
charged and payable for that levy do not exceed the product of the
base taxes charged and payable and the inflation factor certified
under division (F) of this section for that tax year, rounded to the
nearest multiple of one hundred dollars.
(C)
The commission shall certify each rate reduced under division (A) of
this section to the county auditor not later than the first day of
December. In the case of property on the real property tax list, the
adjusted rates shall apply to the tax year in which the adjusted
rates are certified and to each ensuing tax year, until the next tax
year in which adjusted rates are certified under this section. In the
case of manufactured or mobile homes on the manufactured home tax
list, the adjusted rates shall apply to the tax year following the
year in which the adjusted rates are certified and to each ensuing
tax year, until the tax year following the next year in which
adjusted rates are certified under this section. Notwithstanding any
other section of the Revised Code to the contrary, a county budget
commission shall not reallocate mills reduced pursuant to this
section to any other taxing unit.
(D)
For a taxing unit that elects to forgo revenue from or otherwise
voluntarily reduce the rate of a levy within the ten-mill limitation
for one or more tax years, beyond which would be required under
division (B) of this section, the calculation of the limit under
division (B) of this section in subsequent tax years shall be based
on the taxes charged and payable for the tax year preceding such
voluntary reduction. Nothing in this section requires increasing the
rate of a levy above what it was before the operation of this
section.
(E)
If the current taxes charged and payable for a levy within the
ten-mill limitation do not increase for a tax year to which section
5715.24 of the Revised Code applies in the county compared to the
base taxes charged and payable, then the county auditor, in September
of that year, shall calculate the increased rate of the levy that
would cause the levy's current taxes charged and payable to be the
same as the levy's base taxes charged and payable, rounded to the
nearest one hundredths of one mill, and shall certify to the
applicable taxing unit the increased rate. A taxing unit, not later
than the first day of November, may adopt and certify to the county
auditor a resolution or ordinance requesting that the levy be levied
up to the rate certified by the county auditor under this division.
The resolution or ordinance shall also be accompanied by information
demonstrating the taxing unit's need for the higher rate. The county
auditor, upon receipt of this certification, shall convene the county
budget commission, which shall decide whether to approve, partially
approve, or deny the taxing unit's request for an increased rate
based on its evaluation of the taxing unit's need for the increase.
If it wholly or partially approves the increase, the commission shall
certify the amount of the rate of increase to the county auditor not
later than the first day of December. The increased rate shall apply
to the current tax year, or the ensuing tax year for manufactured or
mobile homes on the manufactured home tax list, and each ensuing year
until the next tax year in which an adjusted rate for the levy is
certified under this section. Nothing in this division allows a
county budget commission or taxing unit to exceed the ten-mill
limitation.
(F)
The tax commissioner shall annually determine the percentage change
in the gross domestic product deflator determined by the bureau of
economic analysis of the United States department of commerce from
the first day of January of the third preceding calendar year to the
last day of December of the preceding calendar year. The commissioner
shall certify the resulting amount to each county auditor whose
county undergoes a reappraisal or triennial update not later than the
first day of September of each year.
Section
2.
That
existing
section
5705.31
of the Revised Code
is
hereby
repealed.
Section
3.
The
amendment or enactment by this act of sections 5705.31 and 5705.316
of the Revised Code applies, in the case of property on the real
property tax list, to tax year 2026 and every tax year thereafter
and, in the case of manufactured or mobile homes on the manufactured
home tax list, to tax year 2027 and every tax year thereafter.
Speaker
___________________ of the House of Representatives.
President
___________________ of the Senate.
Passed
________________________, 20____
Approved
________________________, 20____
Governor.
The section numbering of law
of a general and permanent nature is complete and in conformity with
the Revised Code.
Director, Legislative
Service Commission.
Filed
in the office of the Secretary of State at Columbus, Ohio, on the
____ day of ___________, A. D. 20____.
Secretary of State.
File
No. _________ Effective Date ___________________