Debate over Ohio's property tax relief continues
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A property tax relief proposal in the state operating budget has some school districts worried.
The proposal works like this: if you live in a school district that carried over more than 30% of its budget from the previous year, your property tax bill will go down. Ohio House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said that will impact Ohioans living in 486 of Ohio's more than 600 school districts starting in January 2026.
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While several Republican leaders favor the proposal and even wanted the carry-over rate to be lower; House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said it would have served more Ohioans at a 25% cap, as originally proposed.
'I think about 60 or 70 school districts came off the list of school districts where taxes would be lowered,' Huffman said. 'Those districts will not be getting property tax relief because we went from 25% to 30%.'
Some, including Buckeye Association of School Administrators Director of Government Relations Paul Imhoff, said it is a misguided approach at relief.
'That proposal has many unintended consequences, and we believe, at the end of the day, would be devastating to the over 80% of children who we serve in Ohio's traditional public schools,' Imhoff said.
Imhoff's association represents all of Ohio's public school superintendents. He said that right now, cash balances for public schools are at historic highs, but this proposal would tank that.
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'If we were to put this policy into place by fiscal year '27, our cash balances would be at dangerous lows,' he said.
Imhoff agrees there should be a carry-over ceiling, but he said each locally elected school board should have the ability to figure out what percentage is best for them.
'We need to be focusing on literacy, we need to be focusing on the development of our workforce,' Imhoff said. 'If we starve our district of resources, we aren't going to be focusing on those things that are so important to the economic development of our state.'
Why do schools bother with carry-over cash? Imhoff said it is simple.
'I don't think a cash balance should ever go below 25% because you just need enough money just to make payroll into the next month, just like in our personal finances, at the end of the month, we don't want to take our checking account down to zero,' he said.
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Supporters of the proposal argue that schools should not be piggybanks and just hold on to taxpayer dollars. Huffman said there has been a 'consistent influx of increased and new money' over the past 25 years that can better serve taxpayers.
'We simply looked at this as saying, 'Here's lots of money that isn't being used and that can provide the property tax relief right now,'' Huffman said.
Huffman recognized that this would not be long-term relief, and reductions would stop coming after a while, once all school districts comply with the carry-over cap.
'Sometime in the future, there would be no property tax reduction under this provision because schools wouldn't be needing more than 30% every year,' Huffman said. 'It's not always going to be that way because there are always special exceptions if a power plant closes down or there's a massive increase of kids who come into school or leave the school or whatever it is.'
Imhoff and Huffman agree property tax reform and relief is needed in Ohio.
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'We want to be a partner in the reforming that we need to do to property taxes but we want to do that in a way that doesn't damage our ability to serve the students in our care,' Imhoff said.
Imhoff said that in the past 50 years, there have been almost 20,000 property tax levies on the budget, but the impact on school funding has actually changed very little.
There are more than a dozen property tax relief and reform bills being worked on at the legislature right now. Huffman said that won't help Ohioans in the near future, like this budget proposal will.
'It's going to take a few years to get that done, not just because I think [we have] to figure it out, but then you have to persuade people and there's all of that,' Huffman said. 'That's not what property owners are saying. They're saying, 'We need relief now. My taxes have doubled, and they've doubled again.''
Huffman said it is a bad situation for many Ohioans right now, some who are even getting taxed out of their homes. He said while the work that is going on right now on all those other bills will, and should, continue; promises of anything comprehensive getting done, even within the next two years, can't be made.
'Unpeeling that onion or taking apart that complicated machine and trying to fix it is a long, arduous job that will take longer, frankly, and in my opinion, will probably take longer than one General Assembly to get done,' Huffman said.
The state operating budget must be on the governor's desk by July 1, which is why policies that leaders want to fast track typically get added into that. Property tax relief passing in this state budget is likely the earliest Ohioans would see relief.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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