What does the Ohio House property tax override mean?

Yahoo

5 days ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio House pushed for property tax relief this week, but legislators disagree on whether removing some property tax authority will help Ohioans' pocketbooks.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed Ohio's 2026-2027 budget into law on June 30, but vetoed 67 provisions within the several thousand page document. On Monday, the Ohio House held a rare out-of-season session to override one of the budget vetoes in an attempt to provide property tax relief. During the vote, politicians on both sides of the aisle said Ohio's tax system is too complex to be productive, so NBC4 is breaking this issue down.
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What happened?
On Monday, 89 of the House's 99 members met and voted to override DeWine's veto on school district property tax levy restrictions. The move needed 60 votes, and it successfully passed 61-28. The House originally planned to vote on three overrides, but leaders said they did not think they had the votes due to absences. See previous coverage in the video player above.
It is now up to the Senate to decide if they will also vote on the override, but they have not yet announced plans to vote. The override is not official unless 20 of Ohio's 33 Senators concur.
What could change?
If the Senate concurs the veto override, Ohio would change what type of property tax levies schools and other services could place on the ballot. The changes stop schools and political subdivisions, like fire departments or libraries, from introducing replacement and emergency levies. This change also stops school districts from asking for operating levies if it has too much money left over in their general funds.
Replacement levies occur when a levy is expiring, and can either keep the same levy in place or, more commonly, replace it with a higher tax rate. Emergency levies are used when funding is crucial to keep operating, and they expire after a set number of years.
These are all operating levies, meaning they are used to pay for daily necessities like supplies, utilities and salaries. These funds typically cannot be used for permanent improvement projects, like building a new high school or fire department.
House members in favor of the changes said words like 'emergency' and 'replacement' can influence people to vote for property tax increases they may not want. They hope removing these levy options will promote transparency in levy requests.
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What does this mean for schools?
This would limit how public school districts are allowed to ask for public money by removing several levy options. Schools would still be allowed to request other property tax levies.
The Ohio Education Association (OAE) said these levies are crucial for school districts' long-term financial stability. Replacement levies are frequently used to help districts keep up with inflation, so having to always seek new levies brings a more complicated request to taxpayers. According to the OAE, this change could force Ohio schools to increase class sizes and cut programming.
Schools will also no longer be allowed to ask for certain levies if they carry over more than 100% of their expenditures in their general funds from school year to school year. School districts say this is an important protection for long-term financial planning, as they cannot ask for more money even if they say they need more. House Republicans who voted in favor of the override said it will encourage districts to be more fiscally responsible.
Proponents of the change say this is not taking money from schools, as voters will still have the opportunity to approve levies. Opponents, like Rep. Ismail Mohamed (D-Columbus), said the veto would limit the choices Ohioans have at the ballot.
What does this mean for local services?
Although the change affects school districts immensely, it also affects political subdivisions like local governments, fire departments, libraries and parks. All of these services rely on property taxes, and many of them use replacement levies to stay afloat.
For instance, Franklin Township had two replacement levies fail in the past year, leading them to have to close one of their two fire stations. Legislators and advocates who disagree with the possible property tax change say examples like this prove Ohioans already have control over whether or not to pass a levy.
Like local schools, this could make it more difficult to pass levies, or just complicate how these services are asking for funding. House Democrats say these services will have to choose between more frequent levy requests or making budget cuts. House Republicans largely say this will protect taxpayers from overreach and encourage local services to be better stewards of tax dollars.
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What does this mean for my taxes?
Even if the Senate concurs this veto override, this change does not guarantee a different property tax rate for Ohioans. The change reduces how many types of levies subdivisions can ask for, but fewer levies may not correlate with fewer levy requests.
Proponents say this will help provide transparency at the ballot and prevent tax hikes that voters may not expect. The change would go into effect Jan. 1, 2026, so it would not change tax laws until after the November election. Proponents say this is a proactive change to help future overreach.
Opponents say it is unlikely this will provide meaningful property tax relief because it does not address immediate pressures. They said it could even add financial pressure for taxpayers as local governments and schools try to find other revenue sources.
Ohio leaders say property tax reform is coming, regardless of whether the override stands. Gov. Mike DeWine has tasked a property tax reform work group with analyzing concerns and generating solutions by Sept. 30.
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