Section 5748.02. School district income tax proposal and election

(A) The board of education of any school district, except a joint vocational school district, may declare, by resolution, the necessity of raising annually a specified amount of money for school district purposes. The resolution shall specify whether the income that is to be subject to the tax is taxable income of individuals and estates as defined in divisions (E)(1)(a) and (2) of section 5748.01 of the Revised Code or taxable income of individuals as defined in division (E)(1)(b) of that section. A copy of the resolution shall be certified to the tax commissioner no later than one hundred days prior to the date of the election at which the board intends to propose a levy under this section. Upon receipt of the copy of the resolution, the tax commissioner shall estimate both of the following:

(1) The property tax rate that would have to be imposed in the current year by the district to produce an equivalent amount of money;

(2) The income tax rate that would have had to have been in effect for the current year to produce an equivalent amount of money from a school district income tax.

Within ten days of receiving the copy of the board's resolution, the commissioner shall prepare these estimates and certify them to the board. Upon receipt of the certification, the board may adopt a resolution proposing an income tax under division (B) of this section at the estimated rate contained in the certification rounded to the nearest one-fourth of one per cent. The commissioner's certification applies only to the board's proposal to levy an income tax at the election for which the board requested the certification. If the board intends to submit a proposal to levy an income tax at any other election, it shall request another certification for that election in the manner prescribed in this division.

(B)

(1) Upon the receipt of a certification from the tax commissioner under division (A) of this section, a majority of the members of a board of education may adopt a resolution proposing the levy of an annual tax for school district purposes on school district income. The proposed levy may be for a continuing period of time or for a specified number of years. The resolution shall set forth the purpose for which the tax is to be imposed, the rate of the tax, which shall be the rate set forth in the commissioner's certification rounded to the nearest one-fourth of one per cent, the number of years the tax will be levied or that it will be levied for a continuing period of time, the date on which the tax shall take effect, which shall be the first day of January of any year following the year in which the question is submitted, and the date of the election at which the proposal shall be submitted to the electors of the district, which shall be on the date of a primary, general, or special election the date of which is consistent with section 3501.01 of the Revised Code. The resolution shall specify whether the income that is to be subject to the tax is taxable income of individuals and estates as defined in divisions (E)(1)(a) and (2) of section 5748.01 of the Revised Code or taxable income of individuals as defined in division (E)(1)(b) of that section. The specification shall be the same as the specification in the resolution adopted and certified under division (A) of this section.

If the tax is to be levied for current expenses and permanent improvements, the resolution shall apportion the annual rate of the tax. The apportionment may be the same or different for each year the tax is levied, but the respective portions of the rate actually levied each year for current expenses and for permanent improvements shall be limited by the apportionment.

If the board of education currently imposes an income tax pursuant to this chapter that is due to expire and a question is submitted under this section for a proposed income tax to take effect upon the expiration of the existing tax, the board may specify in the resolution that the proposed tax renews the expiring tax. Two or more expiring income taxes may be renewed under this paragraph if the taxes are due to expire on the same date. If the tax rate being proposed is no higher than the total tax rate imposed by the expiring tax or taxes, the resolution may state that the proposed tax is not an additional income tax.

(2) A board of education adopting a resolution under division (B)(1) of this section proposing a school district income tax for a continuing period of time and limited to the purpose of current expenses may propose in that resolution to reduce the rate or rates of one or more of the school district's property taxes levied for a continuing period of time in excess of the ten-mill limitation for the purpose of current expenses. The reduction in the rate of a property tax may be any amount, expressed in mills per one dollar in valuation, not exceeding the rate at which the tax is authorized to be levied. The reduction in the rate of a tax shall first take effect for the tax year that includes the day on which the school district income tax first takes effect, and shall continue for each tax year that both the school district income tax and the property tax levy are in effect.

In addition to the matters required to be set forth in the resolution under division (B)(1) of this section, a resolution containing a proposal to reduce the rate of one or more property taxes shall state for each such tax the maximum rate at which it currently may be levied and the maximum rate at which the tax could be levied after the proposed reduction, expressed in mills per one dollar in valuation, and that the tax is levied for a continuing period of time.

If a board of education proposes to reduce the rate of one or more property taxes under division (B)(2) of this section, the board, when it makes the certification required under division (A) of this section, shall designate the specific levy or levies to be reduced, the maximum rate at which each levy currently is authorized to be levied, and the rate by which each levy is proposed to be reduced. The tax commissioner, when making the certification to the board under division (A) of this section, also shall certify the reduction in the total effective tax rate for current expenses for each class of property that would have resulted if the proposed reduction in the rate or rates had been in effect the previous tax year. As used in this paragraph, "effective tax rate" has the same meaning as in section 323.08 of the Revised Code.

(C) A resolution adopted under division (B) of this section shall go into immediate effect upon its passage, and no publication of the resolution shall be necessary other than that provided for in the notice of election. Immediately after its adoption and at least ninety days prior to the election at which the question will appear on the ballot, a copy of the resolution shall be certified to the board of elections of the proper county, which shall submit the proposal to the electors on the date specified in the resolution. The form of the ballot shall be as provided in section 5748.03 of the Revised Code. Publication of notice of the election shall be made in a newspaper of general circulation in the county once a week for two consecutive weeks, or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code, prior to the election . If the board of elections operates and maintains a web site, the board of elections shall post notice of the election on its web site for thirty days prior to the election. The notice shall contain the time and place of the election and the question to be submitted to the electors. The question covered by the resolution shall be submitted as a separate proposition, but may be printed on the same ballot with any other proposition submitted at the same election, other than the election of officers.

(D) No board of education shall submit the question of a tax on school district income to the electors of the district more than twice in any calendar year. If a board submits the question twice in any calendar year, one of the elections on the question shall be held on the date of the general election.

(E)

(1) No board of education may submit to the electors of the district the question of a tax on school district income on the taxable income of individuals as defined in division (E)(1)(b) of section 5748.01 of the Revised Code if that tax would be in addition to an existing tax on the taxable income of individuals and estates as defined in divisions (E)(1)(a) and (2) of that section.

(2) No board of education may submit to the electors of the district the question of a tax on school district income on the taxable income of individuals and estates as defined in divisions (E)(1)(a) and (2) of section 5748.01 of the Revised Code if that tax would be in addition to an existing tax on the taxable income of individuals as defined in division (E)(1)(b) of that section.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.28, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2011.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.29, HB 48, §1, eff. 7/2/2010.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 10/16/2009.

Effective Date: 08-16-1999; 06-30-2005; 03-30-2006; 06-01-2006; 2007 HB119 06-30-2007