Gov. Mike DeWine’s Property Tax Reform Working Group, which includes county auditors, county commissioners, school superintendents and former state lawmakers, met on Thursday to discuss potential tweaks to the state’s property tax system.
The meeting offered a window into what property tax changes the group is considering. The group is targeting the three property tax measures DeWine vetoed from the state budget in July. The governor formed the working group shortly afterwards, giving it until Sept. 30 to come up with a list of recommendations that he hopes lawmakers will take up instead of trying to override his vetoes.
While the group is focused on tweaking provisions in the budget bill the governor vetoed, the group also appears to be supporting a pending House Bill 186. It would cap, in certain school districts, how much tax bills could automatically go up as a result of rising property values. It calls for capping these increases at the rate of inflation.
Two school superintendents on the working group, John Marschhausen from Dublin City Schools in suburban Columbus, and Stephanie Starcher, Superintendent of Fort Frye Local Schools in the Marietta area, said they support the idea. But they raised the question of whether the state could offer extra money to districts to offset the difference.
Bill Seitz, a former longtime Republican state legislator who led the meeting, said he isn’t sure if the legislature will actually take up the working group’s ideas.
“That’s their prerogative,” Seitz said.
Spike in property tax bills fuels calls for reform
The state legislature has been debating for years how to help homeowners who have seen their tax bills spike as a result of skyrocketing real estate values.
The big increases have overpowered the state’s decades-old property tax formula, which is supposed to prevent these types of tax bill spikes. It also sparked a tax revolt by a citizen’s group that wants to put a statewide ballot issue before voters that would abolish property taxes completely. It’s unclear whether the effort will collect enough voter signatures to get the issue on a ballot.
The governor’s group is not the only special committee that’s studied the subject. A legislative task force also studied the issue for much of 2024, issuing a final report of recommendations in December.
“We are trying to refine what [the ideas that DeWine vetoed] while preserving the essence of the concepts they’ve put forward, and at the same time come up with additional ideas that might provide further real property tax relief, or greater transparency and clarity to the problem,” Seitz said.
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Governor’s working group considering these property tax relief options
The group’s tentative ideas, hashed out in a two-hour meeting on Thursday include:
- Making changes to a school district’s carryover limit: Republican lawmakers had voted to force school districts to return their extra money to taxpayers if their cash reserves grew to an amount equal to 50% of their annual budget. But the governor’s working group may propose raising the number to 100% of a school district’s budget.
- Giving school districts a chance to keep extra money: The group also discussed making the refund optional, giving school districts a chance to explain in writing why they need so much money. A local panel of elected officials called the county budget commission then would make a final decision on whether to issue the refund.
- Defining “unnecessary” taxes: Republican lawmakers had voted to give county budget commissions more power to unilaterally cut taxes, if the commission found the taxes to be “unnecessary and excessive.” The working group wants to come up with a more specific definition of what that means.
- Safeguarding new tax levies: The group also raised concerns that the budget commission could reduce new tax levies soon after voters approve them. So, they’ve proposed a buffer, requiring a minimum amount of time a levy must be in place before the commission can cut it.