By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
The Ohio General Assembly has reconvened for its next two-year session, and property tax relief could be on tap as homeowners around the state grapple with historicaly large tax hikes associated with the ongoing update of property values.
State Rep. Bill Roemer, a Richfield Republican, said Friday that passing property tax relief will be a “top priority” for the House Ways and Means Committee, a tax-writing committee that he leads.
Since 2023, lawmakers have introduced more than a dozen bills aimed at property tax relief. Despite broad bipartisan support, the bills largely have stalled.
Any new property tax relief options will likely be incorporated into the next state budget bill, which lawmakers must approve by the end of June. Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to introduce his budget proposal on Monday, and the House and Senate subsequently will make their own proposals and eventually negotiate a finished product.
Who should pay for property tax relief?
What will the changes look like? That’s unclear. There are competing arguments over whether tax relief should come by cutting property taxes — which would be at the expense of schools and other local governments — or if it should be paid for by the state, which gets most of its money from income and sales taxes.
Lawmakers also face costly competing priorities in the upcoming budget. They’re debating whether to spend an extra $1 billion to complete the final two years of a landmark six-year school-funding plan. They’re also debating cutting the state income tax, a longtime priority for Republicans. One proposal backed by a group of GOP senators calls for cutting taxes for everyone making more than $100,000, which likely would reduce the state coffers by around $1 billion.
Last year, Northeast Ohio leaders and groups including the County Auditors’ Association repeatedly called on GOP lawmakers to move on property tax relief. The issue hit many Cuyahoga County property owners hard in 2024 as new valuations led to steep increases for seniors and people with fixed incomes. A group called Citizens for Property Tax Reform is organizing around the issue, holding town hall-style meetings and calling lawmakers. It has floated the possibility of gathering signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot.
‘Hard choices’ to make on taxes
A “circuit breaker” proposal that essentially would send state tax refunds to homeowners whose tax bills increase more than a set amount in a given year also would cost the state around $820 million. The idea previously was backed by Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning research institute. Unlike other property tax relief measures, it would cover people of all ages and renters.
“Some hard choices are going to need to be made,” said state Sen. Bill Blessing, a Cincinnati-area Republican who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Roemer said his committee will incorporate recommendations contained in a lengthy legislative report issued in late December. The 865-page report summarized the work of a joint House and Senate committee that legislative leaders formed in January 2024 to review possible changes to state property tax law.
(The 21 different policy recommendations appear on page 32 of the report.)
“Many of these bills will be introduced before the operating budget so they can be properly vetted in the Ohio House Ways & Means committee and potentially amended into the budget,” Roemer said.
Among those potential changes, Roemer said, could be reforming the property tax system to make it easier to understand, requiring local governments to hold additional public hearings before requesting a tax levy, changing how properties are valued for tax purposes or even changing the “20-mill floor,” an input in the state’s complex property tax formula that sets a minimum for the taxes that school districts can assess on property owners.
The way the 20-mill floor interacts with the recent sharp increase in property values explains why some communities, generally in more rural areas, are seeing big tax increases that state law is supposed to prevent. But eliminating the floor could significantly cut funding for local schools and cause them to seek more tax levies.
Other changes could include expanding an existing “homestead” exemption, which was previously on the table but has a narrower reach.
Lawmakers will also consider other tax changes
Roemer also said his committee will consider changes to the state’s municipal income tax structure and to TIFS, a type of tax incentive used by local government officials to encourage developments by allowing them to borrow against expected future tax revenues.
Blessing, meanwhile, said he favors the “circuit-breaker” legislation. He pointed to a proposal he hashed out late last December with Democratic state Sen. Kent Smith, of Euclid, that calls for funding the circuit breaker bill by cutting a tax break popular with business groups, among other changes.
“I don’t know what the answer is here or where this is all going to go,” Blessing said.
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Categories: Real Estate Taxes, State of Ohio