2025
FINANCIAL REVIEW & FORECAST
2026
LEGAL PERSPECTIVES Navigating property laws & regulations
Ohio Property Tax Legislation Updates
P
roperty taxes are now amongst one of the hottest topics in the Ohio State Legislature. The legislature has been exploring property tax reforms in recent years after seeing a rapid rise in criticism from constituents who have continually been faced with increasing property taxes.
PHIL BRUSK
JASON LINDHOLM
The legislature’s reform efforts kicked into high gear in 2025 largely as a response to a citizen-led ballot initiative to place a constitutional amendment banning property taxes on real estate on the November 2026 ballot. The citizen-led initiative is currently in the process of gathering signatures. Ohio law requires approximately 415,000 valid signatures from at least 44 out of the 88 counties in the state for a voter initiative to be placed on a ballot. Many of the current initiatives and reforms proposed and passed by the Legislature are geared towards relief for residential homeowners. Commercial property owners may see some benefits too.
Legislation passed for signature, veto or automatic enactment
At the time of writing this article, four bills were passed in late November
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2025. Each had been sent to the governor for signature or veto, with the bills automatically passing if the governor takes no action within 30 days of passage by the legislature. House Bill 129 House Bill 129 makes changes to Ohio’s school funding and property tax framework by allowing school districts to count certain additional tax levies, such as emergency levies, towards the 20-mill floor, which is the minimum amount that school districts can collect under Ohio’s property tax system. Because of the framework of the current system, when a district is subject to the floor and values rise significantly, the protections afforded by the tax reduction factor are not triggered, which results in large property tax jumps. This bill will only affect property owners in school districts that are at the
Properties | January 2026