Changes to a property tax reform bill passed by the Ohio House last week follow a charter amendment Summit County voters will weigh in on next Tuesday.
The charter amendment would allow Summit County to limit property taxes by capping annual growth to 3%. The amendment is in response to proposed state legislation, House Bill 335, which originally called for repealing all unvoted property taxes, county officials said.
But that legislation changed before it was passed by the House.
“The elimination of inside milage was removed from the bill," said Nick Ciolli, a research analyst at the County Commissioners Association of Ohio.
Instead, the new version puts an inflationary cap on the growth of unvoted property taxes. That was inspired by Summit County’s amendment, according to Cheryl Subler, executive director of the County Commissioners Association.
“[We] really liked what Summit was doing," she said, "and our members wanted to see if they could get replicated statewide.”
Summit County voters will weigh in on the amendment – Issue 2 on the ballot – on Tuesday.
Subler applauded the passage of HB 335 as well another property tax reform bill, House Bill 186, but said much more needs to be done to fix the state’s broken property tax system. HB 186 would cap property tax revenue growth for homeowners in more than 75% of districts.
“Where Ohio finds itself with property values currently and the whole dynamic of funding local services did not happen overnight, will most likely not be solved overnight," she said.
A group currently collecting signatures for a statewide ballot initiative wants to abolish all property taxes, which has raised concerns from some statewide and county officials.
"Our members do not believe the current property tax structure is sustainable. They have very serious concerns," Subler said. "They are working towards reform. They are not working toward total elimination."
School and county officials in particular have spoken out against the initiative, saying it would decimate the funding they need to provide essential services. Public schools are primarily funded by property taxes, and public safety, developmental disability, behavioral health and programs and services for children and seniors are paid for by property taxes countywide.
"Those would be very very difficult to fund if property taxes went away," Ciolli said.
Summit County, for example, would have to raise its sales tax rate to 17.5%, a level illegally high, just to break even from lost property taxes, county officials said.
