Ohio Work Group Endorses 20 Tax Reforms

Ohio’s Property Tax Reform Work Group released a final report with 20 recommendations aimed at providing relief from rising property taxes while protecting schools and local services. Recommendations include capping taxing districts’ carryover balances at 100%, expanding levy types covered by the 20-mill floor, replacing substitute levies with fixed-sum levies, tightening emergency-levy rules, closing an LLC loophole, and creating state-level reviews of reappraisals and exemptions. The group endorsed bills including HB 186, HB 156 and HB 154 but cannot itself enact changes, and it tailored recommendations toward measures legislators might accept. Locally, Montgomery and Warren counties are considering expanded homestead exemptions, owner-occupancy credits and targeted senior/low-income deferral programs to limit steep tax increases. Warren County specifically reviewed a proposed 2.5% owner-occupancy “piggyback” credit that would lower taxes countywide but is projected to cost local governments millions and could disproportionately affect poorer school districts. Separately, Tulsa County approved four 25-year tax-incentive districts for the proposed Project Clydesdale data center near Owasso, prompting resident concerns about local hiring commitments, water use and long-term lost tax revenue.