Bird, Hall introduce legislation to address property tax increases

State Reps. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) and Thomas Hall (R- Madison Twp.) Tuesday introduced legislation that will modify the procedures used by the Tax Commissioner to conduct property tax sales assessment ratio studies.
 
The proposed legislation will have the commissioner weigh the past three years of a county’s property values in order to determine property tax. Under current law, the commissioner only considers property values from the previous year.
 
This legislative change comes as a result of recent increases in property valuations throughout several Ohio counties. Butler and Clermont counties are among 11 Ohio counties where the tax commissioner is recommending a 42-percent increase in property values and a 110-percent increase on farmland.
 
“Ohioans should not have to undertake historic property tax hikes because of the unbalanced assessment from the Ohio Department of Taxation,” Bird said. “There is no question that an increase like this would hurt Ohio’s families. We must make this change to property tax assessments to avoid this unsustainable increase.”
 
“I will continue to fight this excessive increase in property valuations for the 46th House district and the other counties that have been negatively affected,” Hall said.
 
If passed, this legislation would be applicable to the 2023 tax season.
 
The measure currently awaits a bill number and committee assignment.