Explaining how Ohio’s budget affects you
Statehouse reporter Jessie Balmert breaks down the newly signed two-year state budget and talks about how it impacts Ohioans.
- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine assembled a group to examine the state’s property tax system.
- Critics argue that state lawmakers already studied this issue.
- The group aims to find ways to provide tax relief without impacting essential local services.
- Some worry high property taxes will make Ohio less attractive to residents.
A new group assembled by Gov. Mike DeWine will examine Ohio’s property tax system as homeowners complain about high taxes.
There’s just one problem, critics say: State lawmakers already did this.
DeWine’s working group met for the first time July 24 to begin the task at hand: come up with ways to provide tax relief without gutting schools, police and other local services. DeWine created the task force after vetoing several property tax measures in the state budget, saying the changes would hurt school districts.
The Ohio House voted to override one of DeWine’s vetoes July 21.
“It has to be a balance, and it has to be real reform that people will see a difference, that people who are hurting will really feel a difference in their pocketbook,” DeWine told reporters at the Ohio State Fair. “That’s what we’ve got to do. That’s what people are asking for.”
The group, led by former Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, and Ohio Business Roundtable CEO Pat Tiberi, must provide recommendations by Sept. 30. Other members include county commissioners, auditors and school superintendents from around Ohio − excluding the state’s two largest cities.
Without meaningful changes, some worry Ohio will become a less attractive place to live. Also looming in the background: a proposed constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes, which could blow a hole in state and local budgets.
“It’s really hard to get consensus,” Tiberi said. “But at the end of the day, we have to be competitive for our taxpayers, our citizens and our seniors.”
Does Ohio need another property tax group?
The new task force wasn’t well-received by GOP leaders.
The Legislature formed a special property tax committee that issued policy recommendations last year. Seitz said DeWine’s group plans to build on existing efforts and instructed members to review suggestions from the legislative panel.
But House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said it undercuts the work lawmakers have already done − and the time for studying is over.
“It’s this other committee over here led by former legislators who are going to be making the decisions,” Huffman said. “I’m not interested in participating in that.”
Some ideas from that committee made the budget, including proposals to eliminate certain types of levies and expand the authority of county budget commissions. But lawmakers left other ideas on the table − particularly if they required the state to spend more money.
One of those policies, known as a circuit breaker, would provide relief to people who spend an outsized share of their income on property taxes or rent. Republicans debated a modest expansion of the homestead exemption during the budget process − a change that would help seniors and people with disabilities − but it landed on the chopping block.
“People need state-funded, targeted property tax relief,” Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Westlake, said. “There is no way to give Ohioans real relief to those who need it now without paying for a portion of it.”
Reporters Sarah Sollinger and Laura A. Bischoff contributed.
State government reporter Haley BeMiller can be reached at hbemiller@gannett.com or @haleybemiller on X.
What would you like to see state leaders do about your property taxes?