Supreme Court: Board of Education cannot appeal valuation of property it does not own or lease

A local board of education is unable to appeal the tax valuation of real property except for property it owns or leases, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled today.

In a 6-1 decision, the Supreme Court found that when lawmakers enacted House Bill 126 in 2022, eliminating the ability of a board of education to challenge a county board of revision’s valuation of another owner’s property, a board did not simultaneously gain the ability to appeal such valuations to a court of common pleas through a general administrative appeal statute.

The Olentangy Local School District Board of Education had maintained that once lawmakers cut off a school district’s ability to appeal valuations to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (BTA), it opened the door to challenge taxation decisions in common pleas court. The Delaware County Common Pleas Court and the Fifth District Court of Appeals rejected Olentangy’s argument.

Writing for the Court majority, Justice Daniel R. Hawkins explained that an administrative decision may be appealed to the court of common pleas under the general statute only if it is not already appealable to a “higher administrative authority.”

The General Assembly allows tax valuations to be appealed to a higher administrative authority, the BTA, Justice Hawkins wrote. “Consequently, a board of revision’s property-valuation decisions plainly fall outside the scope of decisions that may be appealed to a court of common pleas …,” he stated.

Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices Patrick F. Fischer, R. Patrick DeWine, Joseph T. Deters, and Megan E. Shanahan joined Justice Hawkins’ decision.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Jennifer Brunner wrote that because lawmakers allow some parties to challenge valuations to the BTA, it does not mean those cut off by the change in the law have no option to challenge the decision. If Olentangy can prove it is harmed by a valuation and that the owner should be paying more in property taxes, state law still allows for a challenge to be filed in common pleas court, she wrote.