Several people begged the committee not to try and jam the the provision that would eliminate guaranteed inside tax millage for cities, counties, schools and villages into the state budget that is being negotiated by a conference committee.
Paul Imhoff, director of Governmental Relations with the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, said “when we look at this through the lens of public schools it’s about a $2 billion cut which is the equivalent of about 20,000 teachers.”
“I urge this committee especially with something as large as this and as complicated as this, let’s not do this in the next five days,” he said. “This is something we cannot jam into the budget without many, many hearings so we can fully understand, hearing more from experts like Mr. Zaino and others. This is complicated and we need time to work through it because the education of our kids is simply too important to risk in order to get this done quickly.”
Legislators in the House and Senate could not agree on the next two-year state budget — which is par for the course — so three leaders from each house began haggling this week to try and come to some agreement before sending it to Gov. Mike DeWine by June 30.
If it were up to Senate President Rob McColley the inside millage piece of this bill won’t be in the budget.
“We’ve heard concerns from local governments primarily aimed at inside millage, and what the elimination of inside millage would do to local governments who are reliant upon that inside millage. Our caucus, I don’t believe, is supportive of the elimination of inside millage,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The bill’s author former Ashtabula auditor Rep. David Thomas was tasked by House leadership to shepherd property tax reform, after the previous General Assembly failed to pass anything meaningful to help property owners who are being crushed by skyrocketing taxes.
The issue hit a critical stage in early May when a grassroots effort by the Committee to Eliminate Property Taxes petitioned Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to get a constitutional amendment to eradicate property taxes altogether on the November ballot. Yost gave his blessing — although he hasn’t taken a stand on the issue — to proceed on May 9.
Before HB 335 was introduced on June 4, House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima told this media outlet “I think we need to do something dramatic and impactful” because the ballot initiative “has legs” and if it doesn’t pass this year they can try again in 2026.
As for the inside millage piece becoming part of the state biennium budget Huffman said, “It’s part of a menu of things that are being considered by the House and Senate to address the real property tax problem.”
“I think (H.B. 335) is probably the most draconian of all of those. I think it also probably affects people adversely who are also fairly conservative in how they spend money,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I don’t want to say we’re not gonna do it (or) we are gonna do it, but I think it’s at one end of the spectrum.”
Thomas has said if the bill passes “average” Ohioans — the owner of a $230,000 home —would save around $850 annually on their property tax bills effective Jan. 1, 2026.
He told this news outlet he doubts the inside millage portion of the bill will survive the budget negotiation process, “Do I believe we’re going to have the full elimination of inside millage, no, but do I believe we’re going to have decreases in tax bills, yes.”
“I’m hearing essentially everything’s on the table, that’s going to be all a negotiation between the House and Senate,” he said. “The House wants to have people’s tax bills decrease in January of next year. That’s one of our big goals. The other pieces of this bill do that but not uniformly across the state.”
There are three other bill proposals folded into HB 335 already in the vetting process.
- House Bill 129: Modifies the school district 20-mill floor calculation, resulting in slower annual property tax revenue growth for an estimated 237 school districts in the first three years. The Legislative Services Commission estimates school district revenue losses statewide would be $89 million in tax year 2026, $114 million in 2027, and $127 million in 2028.
- House Bill 186: Limits increases in property tax revenues for school districts at the 20-mill floor to the three-year average rate of inflation. LSC estimated taxpayer savings of $41.9 million next year, increasing to $64.4 million in 2027 when additional counties carry out their triennial valuation process.
- House Bill 309 gives local budget commissions more power to lower bloated budgets.
The schools have pushed back on the first two bills and House Bill 309 has angered local government officials. The county budget commissions are comprised of the county auditor, treasurer and prosecutor.
“These unelected boards, largely unknown to the general public, should not be given sweeping new powers over municipal finances that traditionally reside with locally elected councils accountable to their residents,” Oxford City Manager Doug Elliott wrote in submitted testimony for the Ways and Means hearing." This proposal would strip local governments of essential fiscal autonomy and allow distant administrative bodies to override local budget decisions, even decisions made by voters through approved levies."
Hannah Kubbins, legislative director for Americans for Prosperity – Ohio was the lone supporter of HB 335.
“For too long, Ohio’s property taxpayers have borne the brunt of a system that allows for unvoted tax increases, unpredictable spikes in tax bills, and a growing burden on homeowners— particularly seniors and those on fixed incomes,“ she said. HB 335 is a comprehensive response to this crisis, offering many positive long-term reforms.”
Thomas gained approval for a couple minor tweaks to HB 335 from committee members and he told this media outlet he’s been told there won’t be any more hearings on the measure before the budget is passed.
Even if the inside millage piece is axed — he said there is a chance something less than total elimination could be negotiated — he isn’t finished reforming, “I’m already planning my July.”
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