There's a proposed constitutional amendment that would wipe out property taxes in Ohio. Supporters of that proposal are in the beginning stages of putting it before voters. They got the green light Wednesday afternoon to start getting signatures to put it on the ballot.
At this point in the process, the Ohio Ballot Board must determine whether the petitions for the constitutional amendment would be one or more issues. There wasn't any debate and the board unanimously agreed it should be circulated as is - as a single issue.
John Marra, mayor of the Lake County village of Timberlake, said the work of getting signatures now begins.
"Our goal is to get it on the November ballot. It's going to be a very steep climb," Marra said.
Steep indeed, because Marra's grassroots group Citizens for Property Tax Reform will need about 443,000 valid petition signatures from 44 of Ohio's 88 counties by the first part of July to put the issue on this November's ballot. Marra admits his group doesn't backing from deep-pocketed donors or large statewide groups that can supply volunteers to circulate the petitions.
"We don't have resources for it, and we don't have time to set anything up either. This is going to have to be all grassroots," Marra said. "I'm a man of faith and I believe with God, all things are possible."
Alternatives to property taxes
While the Ballot Board doesn't hear arguments about the merits and criticisms of potential ballot issues, Marra made his case for abolishing property taxes to reporters after the meeting. He outlined his belief that public services such as schools, police, and fire could be funded if the property tax weren't in place with a fee for payment instead of taxes.
"We're going to have a base rate per household and then there will be an adjustment factor based on the size of the lot and property and so forth. And then there will be a per-person change," Marra said.
Marra said that idea is his alone, not based on other members of the village council. He also said income taxes or sales taxes could be used to fund services currently being provided.
Complaints over high property taxes have been rampant at the Statehouse. Republicans in the Ohio House passed a budget that would cap the cash a school district could hold in reserve at 30% of their budget, with anything above given back to taxpayers. Republican leaders have called that immediate and significant property tax relief. But school districts are urging the Senate to change that in their budget, saying there are many reasons why a district might have higher carryover. The districts said capping it and offering rebates would lead to confusion and would leave them financially devastated.
Some lawmakers think there is more the state can do to deal with high property taxes, which fund schools as well as other local government functions including law enforcement and infrastructure projects.
"We have had an opportunity time and time again. We've had hearings. We've had folks come together. We've had discussions," said Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood). She said, "There are multiple bills that have been introduced, on both sides of the chamber and bipartisan legislation that we could be addressing, and we've just not done it.
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) agreed the legislature should do more to address it.
"It's a kitchen table issue. And it's incumbent upon us to address the issue. And so, we plan to have some of those conversations here shortly following up on that," McColley said. "We have said that defers the legislature has done they have asked us. So I would prefer the legislature handle to we've got some ideas. We're kicking around and I think we'll make some serious improvements in property taxes."
Backers of this amendment to abolish property taxes are quick to point out that lawmakers haven't fixed an over-reliance on property taxes to fund schools. And that's why they said this amendment is needed.
