Property tax group hands down 20 recommendations

Ohio’s Property Tax Working Group issued 20 recommendations for confronting the Buckeye State’s ballooning property taxes, including limiting carryover balances for all taxing districts to 100%.

“This was like putting a budget bill together,” Pat Tiberi, CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable and co-chair of the working group, told Cleveland.com.

Former lawmaker and working group co-chair Bill Seitz told the publication that he hopes “some of these recommendations see the light of day and make it across the finish line and become law.”

The group’s recommendations include implementing a tax deferral program for qualifying seniors and regularly reviewing and evaluating property tax exemptions. The working group also called for support of House Bill 154, which would allow school districts to disapprove of a Community Reinvestment Area program that impacts the school district.

Some of the ideas were unsurprising, having been previously discussed by lawmakers.

“The recommendations outlined in this report build on 13 of the legislature’s proposals and align with other ideas now under consideration,” Seitz and Tiberi said in a letter included with the recommendations. “They represent areas of consensus where we believe constructive compromise is possible.”

The latest suggestions follow those from the Joint Committee on Property Tax Review and Reform, which issued 21 recommendations in December 2024. Lawmakers have implemented some of those recommendations.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine appointed the group after vetoing provisions in the state’s two-year budget.

In a statement, Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, said some of the recommendations “are positive” and “align with” The Buckeye Institute’s recommendations.

“However, as Ohioans clamor for relief from skyrocketing property taxes, more needs to be done,” Lawson said. “Ohio needs to revamp its complex and opaque local government system, as well as its thousands of separate taxing authorities. Until this happens, homeowners will continue to be stuck paying far more than they should for effective and efficient public services.”

The group also encouraged the governor to form a working group to examine the efficiencies of various levels of government.

Separately, Citizens for Property Tax Reform, a citizens group, is circulating a petition that could see voters in November 2026 decide whether to abolish property taxes altogether. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has called on elected county officials to form a coalition to address property taxes before a citizen-led ballot initiative eliminates them.

“Ohio families need urgent property tax relief because rising tax bills are squeezing working Ohioans who are struggling to afford their homes,” Donovan O’Neil, state director for Americans for Prosperity-Ohio, told Newsweek.

The Recommendations

1. Refine the process and definition of County Budget Commissions, including a timeline
   from when a levy is passed to when a Budget Commission could reduce said levy.
2. Limit carry over balances for all taxing districts to 100%. Any carryover balance over
   100% would need to be justified in writing to the satisfaction of the County Budget
   Commission.
3. Enact legislation that eliminates the future use of substitute levies and rename all
   current substitute and emergency levies to “fixed-sum levies.” Future renewal of a
   “fixed-sum levy” would apply to the 20-mill floor with continuing substitute levies
   applying to the floor after five years.
4. County Commissioners should review and reject or approve any levies being placed on
   the ballot by county-wide, non-elected entities.
5. Closing the LLC loophole when buying and/or selling Class I (residential and
   agricultural) property.
6. Support House Bill 186, as amended by the House Ways & Means Committee in June
   2025, and extend its principles to inside millage.
7. Support House Bill 156, with an amendment.
8. Implement reforms to levy ballot language that promote transparency and clarification
   when a voter is voting on a levy.
9. Restrict emergency levies to entities under fiscal caution, watch or emergency as
   defined by the Auditor of State and impose a time limit.
10. Explicitly authorize levy boards to retain interest earned on their levies, while granting
    county commissioners the ability to recover the indirect costs incurred by the county in
    providing services to the board.
11. Improve penalty and interest processes on delinquent property taxes for qualifying
    homeowners.
12. Implement a Tax Deferral Program for Qualifying Seniors.
13. Property tax exemptions should be regularly reviewed and evaluated.
14. Sexennial Reappraisal and Triennial Update schedule to balance reassessments across
    counties and years.
15. Support House Bill 154. Require that Ohio’s school districts have the ability to
    disapprove of a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) program that will impact the
    school district.
16. Codify limits for the creation of Residential Stability Zones.
17. Encourage the Governor to form a working group to look at and analyze the efficiencies
    of the various levels of government.
18. [Address a shortage of] Housing
19. [Develop a system to review the] Abuse of Property Tax Credit
20. Consideration of expanding the Homestead Exemptions and/or Implementing a
    Property Tax Circuit Breaker.