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Ohio Property Tax Updates

UPDATED june 2023

House Bill 126’s Changes Challenged Again, Previous Board of Tax Appeals’ Decision Reversed and Remanded

Ohio Governor DeWine signed House Bill 126 into law on April 21, 2022. The law went into effect on July 21, 2022. The bill imposes limitations on when a school district can file a property tax complaint with an Ohio county board of revision (BOR). The bill amended Ohio Revised Code 5715.19, which regulates who may file a tax valuation complaint. The bill also amended code section 5717.01, which governs appeals from BOR decisions.
Introduced and passed relatively quickly, the bill has been subject to extensive scrutiny. There is active litigation at the Tenth District Court of Appeals to determine the bill’s Constitutionality.
Further, the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) decided in October of 2022 that a political subdivision that has filed a 2021 tax year complaint or counter-complaint cannot appeal any BOR decision issued after July 21, 2022.
For context: the bill’s effective date is July 21, 2022. Section 3(A) of the bill specifies that the amendment to R.C. 5715.19 applies to original complaints and counter complaints filed for tax year 2022 or thereafter, except for division (I) of that section, which expressly states when the amendment was to go into effect. In contrast, the portions of the Bill amending 5717.01 do not expressly state when they were to go into effect.

In its decision, the BTA held, “we find that it is clear the revisions to R.C. 5717.01 became effective on July 21, 2022. Therefore, we hold that boards of education now have no appeal rights to this Board unless the board of education owns or leases the property.” North Ridgeville City Schools Bd. of Edn. v. Lorain Cty. Bd. of Revision, BTA No. 2022-1152, 2022 WL 16725740All appeals initiated by the school boards were dismissed.

This decision has been challenged, and the Ohio Third District Court of Appeals recently issued a decision reversing and remanding the BTA decision. In relevant part, the Court held: “there is no plain reference whatsoever in the amended statute to its applicability to appeals filed prior to the effective date of the statute or, as is the case here, to appeals in pending actions. The General Assembly’s failure to include such language means that the amended version of R.C. 5717.01 can only be applied prospectively.

Accordingly, given the use of the present tense in the statute and absent any express evidence of intended retroactivity and/or applicability to previously pending complaints, we find that the use of the language ‘a subdivision that files an original complaint or counter-complaint’ signifies a legislative intent that the amended statute be applied prospectively to appeals stemming from complaints filed after the July 21, 2022 effective date of the new statute, as opposed to prohibiting appeals from complaints that were filed prior to that date.” Marysville Exempted Village School Dist. Bd. of Edn. v. Union Cty. Bd. of Revision, 2023-Ohio-2020

Further litigation of these cases and issues is anticipated, and updates on both this and the Constitutionality aspect will follow as new information becomes available.

Kristopher Nicoloff
Siegel Jennings Co. L.P.A.
American Property Tax Counsel (APTC)

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