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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
S. B. No. 66
2025-2026
Senators O'Brien, Lang
Cosponsors: Senators Koehler,
Romanchuk, Schaffer, Roegner, Brenner
A
BILL
To
amend
section
319.301
of the Revised Code
to
include emergency levies, substitute levies, all inside millage, and
school district income taxes in the calculation of a school
district's effective millage floor.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
section
319.301
of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec.
319.301.
(A)
The reductions required by division (D) of this section do not apply
to any of the following:
(1)
Taxes levied at whatever rate is required to produce a specified
amount of tax money, including a tax levied under section 5705.199 or
5748.09 of the Revised Code, or an amount to pay debt charges;
(2)
Taxes levied within the one per cent limitation imposed by Section 2
of Article XII, Ohio Constitution;
(3)
Taxes provided for by the charter of a municipal corporation.
(B)
As used in this section:
(1)
"Real property" includes real property owned by a railroad.
(2)
"Carryover property" means all real property on the current
year's tax list except:
(a)
Land and improvements that were not taxed by the district in both the
preceding year and the current year;
(b)
Land and improvements that were not in the same class in both the
preceding year and the current year.
(3)
"Effective
tax rate" means with respect to each class of property:
(a)
The sum of the total taxes that would have been charged and payable
for current expenses against real property in that class if each of
the district's taxes were reduced for the current year under division
(D)(1) of this section without regard to the application of division
(E)(3) of this section divided by
(b)
The taxable value of all real property in that class.
(4)
"Taxes
charged and payable" means the taxes charged and payable prior
to any reduction required by section 319.302 of the Revised Code.
(C)
The tax commissioner shall make the determinations required by this
section each year, without regard to whether a taxing district has
territory in a county to which section 5715.24 of the Revised Code
applies for that year. Separate determinations shall be made for each
of the two classes established pursuant to section 5713.041 of the
Revised Code.
(D)
With respect to each tax authorized to be levied by each taxing
district, the tax commissioner, annually, shall do both of the
following:
(1)
Determine by what percentage, if any, the sums levied by such tax
against the carryover property in each class would have to be reduced
for the tax to levy the same number of dollars against such property
in that class in the current year as were charged against such
property by such tax in the preceding year subsequent to the
reduction made under this section but before the reduction made under
section 319.302 of the Revised Code. In the case of a tax levied for
the first time that is not a renewal of an existing tax, the
commissioner shall determine by what percentage the sums that would
otherwise be levied by such tax against carryover property in each
class would have to be reduced to equal the amount that would have
been levied if the full rate thereof had been imposed against the
total taxable value of such property in the preceding tax year. A tax
or portion of a tax that is designated a replacement levy under
section 5705.192 of the Revised Code is not a renewal of an existing
tax for purposes of this division.
(2)
Certify each percentage determined in division (D)(1) of this
section, as adjusted under division (E) of this section, and the
class of property to which that percentage applies to the auditor of
each county in which the district has territory. The auditor, after
complying with section 319.30 of the Revised Code, shall reduce the
sum to be levied by such tax against each parcel of real property in
the district by the percentage so certified for its class.
Certification shall be made by the first day of September except in
the case of a tax levied for the first time, in which case
certification shall be made within fifteen days of the date the
county auditor submits the information necessary to make the required
determination.
(E)(1)
As used in division
(E)(2)
(E)
of
this section
,
"pre-1982
:
(a)
"Pre-1982
joint
vocational taxes" means, with respect to a class of property,
the difference between the following amounts:
(a)
(i)
The
taxes charged and payable in tax year 1981 against the property in
that class for the current expenses of the joint vocational school
district of which the school district is a part after making all
reductions under this section;
(b)
(ii)
Two-tenths
of one per cent of the taxable value of all real property in that
class.
If
the amount in division
(E)(1)(b)
(E)(1)(a)(ii)
of
this section exceeds the amount in division
(E)(1)(a)
(E)(1)(a)(i)
of
this section, the pre-1982 joint vocational taxes shall be zero.
As
used in divisions (E)(2) and (3) of this section, "taxes charged
and payable" has the same meaning as in division (B)(4) of this
section and excludes any tax charged and payable in 1985 or
thereafter under sections 5705.194 to 5705.197 or section 5705.199,
5705.213, 5705.219, or 5748.09 of the Revised Code
(b)
"School district income tax" has the same meaning as in
section 5748.01 of the Revised Code
.
(c)
"Qualifying taxes charged and payable" means the sum of the
following:
(i)
For real property taxes levied within the one per cent limitation
imposed by Ohio Constitution, Article XII, Section 2, all taxes
charged and payable;
(ii)
For all other real property taxes, the taxes charged and payable for
current expenses, including any real property tax charged and payable
under sections 5705.194 to 5705.197 or section 5705.199 of the
Revised Code, but excluding any real property tax charged and payable
under section 5705.213, 5705.219, or 5748.09 of the Revised Code;
(iii)
For school district income taxes, the property tax equivalent rate
computed for the school district under division (E)(4) of this
section.
(2)
If in the case of a school district other than a joint vocational or
cooperative education school district any percentage required to be
used in division (D)(2) of this section for either class of property
could cause the
total
qualifying
taxes
charged and payable
for
current expenses
to
be less than two per cent of the taxable value of all real property
in that class that is subject to taxation by the district, the
commissioner shall determine what percentages would cause the
district's
total
qualifying
taxes
charged and payable
for
current expenses
against
that class, after all reductions that would otherwise be made under
this section, to equal, when combined with the pre-1982 joint
vocational taxes against that class, the lesser of the following:
(a)
The sum of the rates at which those taxes are authorized to be
levied
,
including the property tax equivalent rate calculated with respect to
any school district income tax
;
(b)
Two per cent of the taxable value of the property in that class. The
auditor shall use such percentages in making the reduction required
by this section for that class.
(3)
If in the case of a joint vocational school district any percentage
required to be used in division (D)(2) of this section for either
class of property could cause the
total
qualifying
taxes
charged and payable
for
current expenses
for
that class to be less than two-tenths of one per cent of the taxable
value of that class, the commissioner shall determine what
percentages would cause the district's
total
qualifying
taxes
charged and payable
for
current expenses
for
that class, after all reductions that would otherwise be made under
this section, to equal that amount. The auditor shall use such
percentages in making the reductions required by this section for
that class.
(4)
Each year, on or before the first day of September, the tax
commissioner shall compute a property tax equivalent rate for each
school district that levies a school district income tax, as follows:
(a)
Multiply one mill times the total taxable value of the district as
determined in divisions (A)(1) and (2) of section 3317.021 of the
Revised Code;
(b)
Estimate the total amount of tax liability for the current tax year
under the school district income tax;
(c)
Divide the amount estimated under division (E)(4)(b) of this section
by the product obtained under division (E)(4)(a) of this section.
(F)
No reduction shall be made under this section in the rate at which
any tax is levied.
(G)
The commissioner may order a county auditor to furnish any
information the commissioner needs to make the determinations
required under division (D) or (E) of this section, and the auditor
shall supply the information in the form and by the date specified in
the order. If the auditor fails to comply with an order issued under
this division, except for good cause as determined by the
commissioner, the commissioner shall withhold from such county or
taxing district therein fifty per cent of state revenues to local
governments pursuant to section 5747.50 of the Revised Code or shall
direct the department of education and workforce to withhold
therefrom fifty per cent of state revenues to school districts
pursuant to Chapter 3317. of the Revised Code. The commissioner shall
withhold the distribution of such revenues until the county auditor
has complied with this division, and the department shall withhold
the distribution of such revenues until the commissioner has notified
the department that the county auditor has complied with this
division.
(H)
If the commissioner is unable to certify a tax reduction factor for
either class of property in a taxing district located in more than
one county by the last day of November because information required
under division (G) of this section is unavailable, the commissioner
may compute and certify an estimated tax reduction factor for that
district for that class. The estimated factor shall be based upon an
estimate of the unavailable information. Upon receipt of the actual
information for a taxing district that received an estimated tax
reduction factor, the commissioner shall compute the actual tax
reduction factor and use that factor to compute the taxes that should
have been charged and payable against each parcel of property for the
year for which the estimated reduction factor was used. The amount by
which the estimated factor resulted in an overpayment or underpayment
in taxes on any parcel shall be added to or subtracted from the
amount due on that parcel in the ensuing tax year.
A
percentage or a tax reduction factor determined or computed by the
commissioner under this section shall be used solely for the purpose
of reducing the sums to be levied by the tax to which it applies for
the year for which it was determined or computed. It shall not be
used in making any tax computations for any ensuing tax year.
(I)
In making the determinations under division (D)(1) of this section,
the tax commissioner shall take account of changes in the taxable
value of carryover property resulting from complaints filed under
section 5715.19 of the Revised Code for determinations made for the
tax year in which such changes are reported to the commissioner. Such
changes shall be reported to the commissioner on the first abstract
of real property filed with the commissioner under section 5715.23 of
the Revised Code following the date on which the complaint is finally
determined by the board of revision or by a court or other authority
with jurisdiction on appeal. The tax commissioner shall account for
such changes in making the determinations only for the tax year in
which the change in valuation is reported. Such a valuation change
shall not be used to recompute the percentages determined under
division (D)(1) of this section for any prior tax year.
Section
2.
That
existing
section
319.301
of the Revised Code
is
hereby
repealed.
Section
3.
The
amendment by this act of section 319.301 of the Revised Code applies
to tax years beginning on or after the effective date of this
section.