Representative David Thomas Champions Two Bills Passed by the House, Aimed at Curbing Property Tax Spikes

State Representative David Thomas (R-Jefferson) is pleased to share that the Ohio House of Representatives today passed House Bill 129 and House Bill 309, both of which serve as reasonable, informed responses to the unprecedented surge in residents' property tax burdens across the state. These bills add to the list of House-championed initiatives aimed at providing property tax relief for Ohioans.

"This bill helps a vast majority of my district and many Ohioans. This will prevent future spikes and give the voters transparency in taxation for guaranteed tax rates to schools. We also make sure schools don't get a cut from this bill but will not see the future spikes unless the voters say yes," said Representative David Thomas.

House Bill 129 would require 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.

Roughly 200 Ohio school districts have used emergency and substitute levies to gather large windfalls from property value increases thanks to being on the 20-mill floor, plus additional annual guaranteed revenue the districts receive from these levies, which are not included in the 20-mill floor calculation today. If passed, emergency and substitute levy rates will count towards the 20-mill floor when a school district undergoes its sexennial reappraisal or triennial update, reducing or preventing unvoted tax spikes for the residents of those districts.

House Bill 309 reduces unnecessary property tax collections by expanding the County Budget Commission's authority to modify levies and reduce a taxing unit's millage if the Commission deems a local government would receive unnecessary or excessive property tax collections. It would also increase transparency by clarifying the authority budget commissions currently have and increase transparency when addressing unvoted windfalls of revenue.

These two pieces of legislation were approved in the state budget and unanimously recommended with slight modifications by the Governor's Ohio Property Tax Working Group, which is composed of various school and local government leaders.

House Bill 129 and House Bill 309 now move to the Senate for further consideration.