Ohio property tax relief group plans to recommend levy changes, homeowner credits

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio's Property Tax Reform Work Group has generally agreed on relief proposals to recommend.

The governor-appointed group of superintendents, county auditors and other tax-aware leaders held their second-to-last meeting on Thursday and largely finalized their suggestions. The committee has until Sept. 30 to compile a report of solutions to Ohio's rising property tax issues. The work group is interested in nearly two dozen recommendations, including changes to school levy options, reduced bureaucracy and cracking down on tax loopholes.

Property taxes are high for many Ohioans, but they are the primary source of revenue for schools and many public safety departments. The work group is aware that they must not only present solutions, they must present solutions state legislators agree with to enough to codify.

Co-chair and president and CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable Pat Tiberi said it was important to acknowledge the work -- and $2 billion invested -- that state legislators have already done brainstorming tax relief. However, few, if any, of those measures have passed.

Tiberi said acknowledgement would help legislators consider their suggestions. He similarly said the group should consider some changes that emphasize local responsibility in the tax crisis. However, some worried about over-appeasing legislators.

“With all due respect to the state, some of the problems we have with property taxes are due to legislative changes," said Denise Driehaus, Hamilton County commissioner and group member. "I don’t want to be overly generous to the state when some of the problems are a result of the state.” 

Members were also cognizant of their limited time, leaving some ideas as recommendations that legislators or new work groups look more closely at. Tiberi also said Ohio is the most challenging state in the country to build new housing, limiting the tax base to its current population, which is dwindling. Those who are in Ohio, Tiberi said, are getting older and more poor on average.

The group agreed on several ideas to relieve burdens for seniors and others on fixed incomes, who are hit hardest by rising taxes. Hilliard resident Phillip Leffel told NBC4 he spends almost a third of his fixed income retirement check on school taxes, and many older residents are being taxed out of their homes.

The work group recommended freezing tax rates, waiving delinquent payments or removing late payment penalties for up to 10 days for qualifying residents. The group also decided to remind county treasurers that they can offer citizens exemptions, and considered requiring, rather than allowing, counties to offer prepayment tax plans.

Another suggestion is to allow cities, counties and some townships to create residential stability zones. These zones would offer a 50% reduction in assessment value for seniors who make less than 80% of the median area income, own their own homes and have lived there for at least 20 years. To mitigate revenue losses, school boards would also get veto power on these zones.

The group plans on offering several changes to which type of levies school districts can introduce, such as adjusting ballot language to be clearer for voters. Among them is the removal of emergency and replacement levies, to be replaced with a new fixed-sum levy.

A similar idea was vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine this summer but overturned by the House. If the Senate also overrides the veto, it would become law. Group members strongly recommended immediate amendments to the contested provision to protect against a 2013 legislative change that could increase taxes by millions.

The group also recommends adding levies to the 20-mill floor, a complicated tax program that ensures school districts get a minimum amount of property tax revenue each year. Current law uses the 20-mill floor to protect revenue for schools by increasing taxes. The work group also recommended including inside millage -- property taxes approved without taxpayers voting -- in the 20-mill floor.

Group members also want to close the "LLC Loophole," which allows property transfers made within an LLC to not be disclosed to county auditors. This gives business owners a chance to avoid certain taxes, so the group is recommending ending this loophole for residential properties. The group is also likely to recommend minimizing certain tax credits for businesses.

Several suggestions may be too costly to be implemented, but the group decided to still include them in the report for possible consideration. They plan to ask the governor to create another work group dedicated to condensing and simplifying layers of government to cut down on unnecessary taxation.

Co-chair and former state Rep. Bill Seitz said for time purposes, the group did not dive into the "hornets' nest" of property tax expenditures within Ohio laws, but called for more frequent and rigorous reviews. If the legislature does review expenditures, the work group will ask them to repurpose savings as property tax relief.

Warren County Auditor Matt Nolan said he asked ChatGPT for recommendations, which provided a similar list to the work group's. The only change was that AI suggested farmers were not contributing their fair share. The group also said short-term rental owners, like VRBO or Airbnb, could be contributing more.

The group hopes to have a draft report ready before its final meeting Sept. 25.