7-08-2025 7:10pm

How Ohio's Latest Budget Undermines Local Communities and Property Tax Relief

Beth Callahan Editor

***OPINION BY HAMILTON COUNTY AUDITOR JESSICA E. MIRANDA***

OHIO -- The harmful effects of tax-shifting and regressive tax policy are all-too-familiar to me as a former School Board President and Ohio Statehouse Minority Whip and as your current Hamilton County Auditor. They are even more recognizable to the millions of families who bear the greatest weight of the State’s latest budget.

Throughout my decade-long journey as a public servant, I have dedicated my time to supporting our local communities, including my advocacy for meaningful property tax relief. Although HB96 claims to provide relief for struggling property owners, a look behind the curtain shows that it not-so-cleverly disguises tax shifting as immediate aid.

I commend many of Governor DeWine’s vetoes and urge legislators to keep these propositions out of the budget.

A Closer Look at Homestead and Owner-Occupancy Credits

The Homestead Exemption program provides property tax relief to Ohioans above 65 years of age and 100% disabled veterans. This relief was drastically downsized when income restrictions were reinstated nearly a decade ago. In a performative attempt to support older Ohioans and disabled veterans, the State budget allows counties to match the Homestead Exemption amount.

The catch?

Each county is expected to fully fund the relief - to the tune of estimated $19 million annually in Hamilton County - without any support, yet the income requirement remains within the State Legislature’s full control.

Likewise, the newest budget allows for a local county match to the 2.5% Owner-Occupancy Credit, which allows property owners who live in their property to receive a reduction credit on qualified levies and property taxes for their primary residence.

Although Governor DeWine kept these items in the budget, their effect remains obsolete.

Stripping Away Local Fiscal Strength

After massive cuts to the Local Government fund in 2013, municipalities were pushed towards other tax revenue streams, primarily levies. The State budget attempted to land another attack on local fiscal strength by eliminating the authority of emergency levies, replacement levies, and other combinations for levies and income tax.

These are tools municipalities and schools can use for fiscal growth and responsibility, yet they are continually stripped away by the State Legislature, further inhibiting the vital work in our communities to keep our streets safe and paved and to keep kids healthy and educated. Fortunately for Ohioans who appreciate their local services, Governor DeWine vetoed this item, but
legislators could make the mistake of overriding his veto.

The Ongoing Attack on Public School Funding Predictably, eliminating these levy options was not the only attack on public school funding within the State’s budget. Additional affronts included a 40% cap on carryover school district funds and a harsher formula to calculate the minimum property tax revenue received by each district, called the 20-mill floor.

Ohio’s school funding formula was deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court in 1997;
however, a new, legal approach known as Fair School Funding received bipartisan support and passed in 2020. Two of the three phases of Fair School Funding have been implemented, but the latest State budget failed to update inputs for the third phase, rendering the funding model obsolete and leaving school districts still drastically underfunded versus how the formula was intended to work.

Budgets since have reflected the sentiment that school districts should be more fiscally conservative, so districts complied, yet this restriction on carryover balances punishes districts who did just that. Governor DeWine’s veto of the 40% carryover cap and the reformulation of the 20-mill floor were vital course corrections; however, legislators have a long way to go before our public school funding can pass as constitutional.

A Call for True Property Tax Reform

Yes, Ohioans need and deserve property tax reform. It’s a matter of choosing the right solutions; ones that do not simply tax-shift the responsibility away from the State. I have urged State lawmakers to listen to the experts for the right path forward. The County Auditors’ Association of Ohio (CAAO), a coalition of County Auditors and Fiscal Officers from all 88 counties in the State, have proposed such solutions for property tax reform, but none appear in the latest budget.

For Ohioans to see true property tax relief, the State must:

A significantly increase the Homestead Exemption amount and income restriction, if not outright
remove it.
Eliminate the Non-Business Credit and Expand the Owner Occupancy Credit to bring relief to
homeowners who need it most, not renters.
Implement the third phase for Fair School Funding and eliminate the 20-mill floor.
Create a menu of target relief that is tailored to serve all communities.

These solutions have been brought to the Statehouse and State Senate countless times through
testimony and advocacy. Unfortunately for the thousands of homeowners around the State, the
aforementioned tax shifting has instead been given focus by State legislators, many of whom aim to re-include these relief-facades by overriding Governor DeWine’s vetoes.

It is time the State puts in their fair share into school funding, targeted property tax exemptions, and the Local Government Fund. Only then can we lessen the necessity of local levies and bring true relief to the homeowners around the State who need it most.

I can speak for the homeowners of Hamilton County when saying we would much rather
see substantive, expert-driven property tax relief than a handout to the Browns Stadium.