A bill going through the Ohio House of Representatives hopes to get rid of replacement levies. One of the primary sponsors of HB344, Representative Adam Mathews (D-56), feels replacement levies are too confusing for voters.

“We’ve heard from a lot of people ‘I voted for something, they said it wasn't going to raise my taxes’ and then the tax bill increases the next time it comes up,” State Rep. Mathews said. 

On replacement levies, the tax rate doesn’t increase but if a property value has increased since the last time the levy was passed, those homeowners will end up with a bigger bill. It's intended to have the millage rate catch up with growth and development.

Several associations have testified about HB 344 while it’s being considered by state representatives. 

The General Counsel for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Tony Long, testified that they support getting rid of the confusing language around replacement levies.

“We’re not opposed to a levy increasing taxes, it's just, let the voters know what they’re voting for,” Long told 21 News. “The whole area's kind of confusing. Millage, what's a mill? A mill’s a tenth of a penny. It's almost like it's old English that they talk about in real property taxes.”

Long feels that if the language is more understandable then it would get more people to the polls.

Townships, libraries, schools, disability services and much more get funding from replacement levies. 

The Ohio Township Association testified against this bill passing.

“Township services, such as fire, EMS, and cemeteries, are funded almost exclusively by the property tax…,” Kyle A. Brooks, the Governmental Affairs for OTA wrote in his testimony. “...a replacement allows a township to take advantage of growth and development by considering current property valuation. In other words, it brings the millage effective rate back up to the initially passed millage.”

The Ohio Library Council also opposes the bill. Jay Smith, the Director of Government and Legal services for the council said 50% of public library funds come from the state and the other 50% comes from local revenues.

“The only revenue source that local libraries can tap into is local property tax,” Smith told 21 News. 

That 50% is not all replacement levies. Smith said that libraries typically ask for a renewal or brand new levy on the ballot but they still want the option of a replacement levy.

“Even if we have a few libraries that for whatever reason are seeking a replacement levy we want to see them be successful,” Smith said. 

Representative Mathews feels groups who are reliant on replacement levies can get the funding they need in other ways.

“They still have the exact same avenues that they currently have to have renewals, have renewals with increases, have brand new levies,” State Rep. Mathews said. “... by communicating with them (the voters) saying we need this tax increase to be able to provide the services you want I think that's a great way to have that open line of communication of what type of trade offs are we willing to have to have the type of community that we expect.”

The bill is still being considered in the house, if approved it will go to the senate.