Read the full stored bill text
As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
S. B. No. 239
2025-2026
Senators Brenner, Cutrona
To
amend sections 742.16, 742.33, 742.34, 5705.06, and 5705.31 and to
repeal section 742.311 of the Revised Code
regarding
contributions to the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
sections 742.16, 742.33, 742.34, 5705.06, and 5705.31 of the Revised
Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec.
742.16.
The
board of trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund shall
establish a period of not more than thirty years to amortize the Ohio
police and fire pension fund's unfunded actuarial accrued pension
liabilities.
The
board shall adopt a plan that specifies how it proposes to meet the
thirty-year amortization period not later than December 31, 2006. If
the period necessary to amortize the unfunded actuarial accrued
pension liability exceeds thirty years, as determined by the
actuarial valuation required by section 742.14 of the Revised Code,
the board, not later than ninety days after receipt of the valuation,
shall prepare and submit to the Ohio retirement study council and the
standing committees of the house of representatives and the senate
with primary responsibility for retirement legislation a report that
includes the following information:
(A)
The number of years needed to amortize the unfunded actuarial accrued
pension liability as determined by the actuarial valuation;
(B)
A plan approved by the board that indicates how the board will reduce
the amortization period of unfunded actuarial accrued pension
liability to not more than thirty years;
(C)
Whether the board has made any progress in meeting the thirty-year
amortization period.
Sec.
742.33.
(A)
Each employer shall pay monthly, on such dates as the board of
trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund requires, from its
general fund, or from a levy imposed pursuant to division (J), (W),
or (JJ) of section 5705.19 of the Revised Code, to the fund an amount
known as the "police officer employers' contribution
,
.
"
which
shall be nineteen and one-half
Subject
to the adjustment required under division (B) of this section, the
police officer employers' contribution is a certain
per
cent of the salaries as defined in division (L) of section 742.01 of
the Revised Code of the members of the police department of the
employer
as follows:
(1)
For salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning before
the first day of July that first occurs after the effective date of
this amendment, the contribution is nineteen and one-half per cent.
(2)
For salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning on the
first day of July that first occurs after the effective date of this
amendment, and on each subsequent first day of July that occurs
thereafter through the first day of July that occurs for the fourth
time after that date, the contribution amount described under
division (A)(1) of this section shall be increased by one per cent
until it equals twenty-three and one-half per cent.
(3)
For salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning on the
first day of July that occurs for the fifth time after the effective
date of this amendment, the contribution is twenty-four per cent
.
(B)
If
the period necessary to amortize the Ohio police and fire pension
fund's unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability exceeds thirty
years, as determined by an actuarial valuation that is completed
subsequent to the first day of July described under division (A)(3)
of this section, the board shall adjust the police officer employers'
contribution to a rate determined by the board's actuary. The board
may adjust the rate over a period not to exceed three years occurring
immediately after the date on which the actuarial valuation is
completed. In adjusting the rate, the board shall not do any of the
following:
(1)
Adjust the rate unless it is adjusted to the same rate to which the
firefighter employers' contribution is adjusted under division (B) of
section 742.34 of the Revised Code;
(2)
Adjust the rate by more than one and one-half per cent over the
three-year period occurring immediately after the date on which the
actuarial valuation is completed;
(3)
During the three-year period described under division (B)(2) of this
section, implement the adjustment by more than one-half per cent over
any one-year period.
(C)
If the board adjusts the police officer employers' contribution under
division (B) of this section based on an actuarial valuation
described under that division, the initial adjustment is effective
for salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning not
earlier than the first day of July that occurs after the date on
which the actuarial valuation is completed. Any subsequent adjustment
that the board implements as described under division (B)(3) of this
section is effective for salaries earned by the members in pay
periods beginning not earlier than each first day of July that occurs
thereafter.
(D)
The
taxing authority of each municipal corporation in which there was a
police relief and pension fund on October 1, 1965, shall annually, in
the manner provided for making other municipal levies and in addition
to all other levies authorized by law, levy a tax of three-tenths of
one mill upon all the real and personal property as listed for
taxation in the municipal corporation for the purpose of paying the
police officer employers' contribution and the municipal
corporation's accrued liability for its former police relief and
pension fund and interest thereon, and of defraying the current
operating expenses of the municipal corporation. The annual revenues
derived from the tax shall be used in the following order:
(1)
First, to pay the current police officer employers' contribution and
any interest related thereto;
(2)
Second, to pay any accrued liability chargeable to the municipal
corporation during the current calendar year for its former police
relief and pension fund and any interest related thereto;
(3)
Third, to defray the current operating expenses of the municipal
corporation.
Sec.
742.34.
(A)
Each employer shall pay monthly, on such dates as the board of
trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund requires, from its
general fund, or from a levy imposed pursuant to division (I), (W),
or (JJ) of section 5705.19 of the Revised Code, to the fund an amount
known as the "firefighter employers' contribution," which
,
subject to the adjustment required under division (B) of this
section,
shall be twenty-four per cent of the salaries as defined in division
(L) of section 742.01 of the Revised Code of the members of the fire
department of the employer.
(B)
If
the period necessary to amortize the Ohio police and fire pension
fund's unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability exceeds thirty
years, as determined by an actuarial valuation that is completed
subsequent to the first day of July as described under division
(A)(3) of section 742.33 of the Revised Code, the board shall adjust
the firefighter employers' contribution to a rate determined by the
board's actuary. The board may adjust the rate over a period not to
exceed three years occurring immediately after the date on which the
actuarial valuation is completed. In adjusting the rate, the board
shall not do any of the following:
(1)
Adjust the rate unless it is adjusted to the same rate to which the
police officer employers' contribution is adjusted under division (B)
of section 742.33 of the Revised Code;
(2)
Adjust the rate by more than one and one-half per cent over the
three-year period occurring immediately after the date on which the
actuarial valuation is completed;
(3)
During the three-year period described under division (B)(2) of this
section, implement the adjustment by more than one-half per cent over
any one-year period.
(C)
If the board adjusts the firefighter employers' contribution under
division (B) of this section based on the actuarial valuation
described under that division, the initial adjustment is effective
for salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning not
earlier than the first day of July that occurs after the date on
which the actuarial valuation is completed. Any subsequent adjustment
that the board implements as described under division (B)(3) of this
section is effective for salaries earned by the members in pay
periods beginning not earlier than each first day of July that occurs
thereafter.
(D)
The
taxing authority of each municipal corporation in which there was a
firemen's relief and pension fund on October 1, 1965, shall annually,
in the manner provided for making other municipal levies and in
addition to all other levies authorized by law, levy a tax of
three-tenths of one mill upon all the real and personal property as
listed for taxation in the municipal corporation for the purpose of
paying the firefighter employers' contribution and the municipal
corporation's accrued liability for its former firemen's relief and
pension fund and interest thereon, and of defraying the current
operating expenses of the municipal corporation. The annual revenues
derived from the tax shall be used in the following order:
(1)
First, to pay the current firefighter employers' contribution and any
interest related thereto;
(2)
Second, to pay any accrued liability chargeable to the municipal
corporation during the current calendar year for its former firemen's
relief and pension fund and any interest related thereto;
(3)
Third, to defray the current operating expenses of the municipal
corporation.
Sec.
5705.06.
The
following special levies are hereby authorized without vote of the
people:
(A)
A levy for any specific permanent improvement which the subdivision
is authorized by law to acquire, construct, or improve, or any class
of such improvements which could be included in a single bond issue;
(B)
A levy for the library purposes of the subdivision, in accordance
with the provisions of the Revised Code authorizing levies for such
purposes, but only to the extent so authorized;
(C)
In the case of a municipal corporation, a levy for a municipal
university under section 3349.13 of the Revised Code, but only to the
extent authorized;
(D)
In the case of a county, a levy for the construction, reconstruction,
resurfacing, and repair of roads and bridges, other than state roads
and bridges;
(E)
In the case of a county, a levy for paying the county's proportion of
the cost of the construction, improvement, and maintenance of state
highways;
(F)
In the case of a township, a levy for the construction,
reconstruction, resurfacing, and repair of roads and bridges,
excluding state roads and bridges, including the township's portion
of the cost of the construction, improvement, maintenance, and repair
of county roads and bridges;
(G)
The levies prescribed by division
(B)
(D)
of sections 742.33 and 742.34 of the Revised Code.
Each
such special levy shall be within the ten-mill limitation and shall
be subject to the control of the county budget commission, as
provided by sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the Revised Code.
Except
for the special levies authorized in divisions (A), (B), (C), (D),
(E), and (G) of this section, any authority granted by the Revised
Code to levy a special tax within the ten-mill limitation for a
current expense shall be construed as authority to provide for such
expense by the general levy for current expenses.
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
ascertain the total amount proposed to be raised in the county for
the purposes of each subdivision and other taxing units in the
county.
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;
(B)
All levies for debt charges not provided for by levies in excess of
the ten-mill limitation, including levies necessary to pay notes
issued for emergency purposes;
(C)
The levies prescribed by division
(B)
(D)
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. 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.
(E)
The levies prescribed by section 3709.29 of the Revised Code.
Divisions
(A) to (E) of this section are mandatory, and commissions shall be
without discretion to reduce such minimum levies except as provided
in such divisions.
If
any debt charge is omitted from the budget, the commission shall
include it therein.
Section
2.
That
existing sections 742.16, 742.33, 742.34, 5705.06, and 5705.31 of the
Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section
3.
That
section 742.311 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.