By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
Thanks to the patriots at Ohio Christian Alliance for this update on the vote to update Governor DeWine’s veto of the property tax amendments on the Budget Bill.
Statement from the Ohio Christian Alliance on the Ohio House Veto Override Failure on Three Important Provisions of Real Estate Tax Relief
Shockingly, the Ohio House only overrode one of Governor DeWine’s vetoes on real estate tax reform. The most substantive reforms have been cancelled by the Governor with his vetoes. Obviously, Speaker Huffman and the majority could not convince the holdouts to vote with them for the overrides of the other three measures. Only the replacement levy portion was overridden with a vote of 61 votes. We will later publish to you the RINO Republican holdouts who stopped effective real estate tax reform. The following three provisions were not voted on by the Ohio House to override the Governor’s vetoes. These measures would have given real measurable tax relief to homeowners. The pain and suffering will continue for the Ohio homeowner. Governor DeWine has failed to hear the appeal of his fellow Ohioans on this critical issue. Seniors will be driven out of their homes, young families will struggle to pay the taxes, and Ohioans across the board will pay more to an already bloated overpaid local education system. Their bills have all been paid and they are sitting on 10 billion dollars in revenue in excess taxes collected over the past few years. In comparison, the state rainy day fund is only 4 billion dollars.
The following are the three provisions of real estate tax relief vetoed by Governor DeWine that the House failed to keep in the budget. Obviously, Speaker Huffman was short by a few votes of the 60 needed by some holdouts of his own Republican caucus, and as a result, Ohio homeowners will pay the price with continued higher real estate taxes.
• Property Tax: County Budget Commission Authority & Procedure: This provision would have changed the authority of county budget commissions, allowing them to unilaterally shrink a school district levy passed by voters.
• Cash Balance Carry-Over: The provision would have put a 40% cap on a school district’s carryover revenue, or the unspent funds a district has on hand at the end of a fiscal year. Under the measure, those funds would have had to be returned to taxpayers.
• 20-Mill Floor Calculation: It would have required emergency and substitute tax levies, incremental growth levies, conversion levies and the property tax portion of combined income tax and property tax levies to be included in the 20-mill floor calculation for school funding purposes.
Note: Collectively, Ohio school districts are sitting on a $10 billion reserve. This is money that is above their current expenses. They have received a windfall from the real estate tax hike. Time to give that money back to the taxpayer
Editorial comments by Brian Massie, Member of Committee to Abolish Ohio Property Taxes.
We did read that the legislators eliminated the “Replacement and Emergency Levies”. This should put the Willoughby-Eastlake School District in a bit of a bind.
Updated July 22, 2025:
Willoughby – Eastlake School District cannot place “Replacement” or “Emergency” levies on the ballot after January 1, 2026. They will not be able to renew any “Emergency” levy moving forward. Any current “Emergency” or “Replacement” levies will eventually fall off after their expiration date. However, they can place those levies on the November 2026 ballot.
It is now “full steam ahead” to get enough signatures to put our citizens’ led Constitutional Amendment on the Ballot in May. We will need all petitions returned to us by December 1st, to allow us to process them properly.
Do not let the Ohio legislators steal your homes, freedom and liberty.
ANY TAX CAUSING A CITIZEN TO BECOME HOMELESS IS IMMORAL!
Categories: Community Activism, Real Estate Taxes