A group out of Cuyahoga County is joining the charge to get rid of property taxes in Ohio. The Citizens for Property Tax Reform have teamed up with the Committee to Eliminate Property Taxes in Ohio and submitted a petition to the Attorney General Dave Yost’s office as the first step towards possible relief for homeowners.

The group is asking for the legislature to change the current complex structure of bills based on property assessments, giving seniors bigger discounts or throwing out the tax altogether.

“We are getting calls from people, heartbreaking, that are having to leave their homes that they've been in for 30 years because they simply can't afford their tax bill,” Beth Blackmarr, Media Relations Specialist for Citizens for Property Tax Reform said. 

In Mahoning County, the new residential property tax values saw an average increase of about 38% for homeowners according to the Mahoning Valley Regional Housing Strategy study.

Property taxes fund emergency responders, Ohio's infrastructure and most of all, schools. If those lose the funding it would be a significant hit.

For Poland local schools, 68% of their budget comes from property taxes. Superintendent Craig Hockenberry said if they lose all or even some of that they would have to go back to the taxpayer.

“We would end up in what's commonly known as levy fatigue,” Hockenberry said. “Nobody wants a deteriorating or dilapidated or a low functioning school district…we rely on those monies to build successful schools that are the infrastructure of our society.”

The reform groups leaders stressed they are not trying to defund public schools, they instead want the state to use alternative methods like an income or sales tax.

“Just don’t tie it to my house, I'll pay it some other way,” Keith Davey, Co-leader of Citizens for Property Tax Reform said.

Davey also suggested user fees to fund emergency responders if the tax is eliminated.

The group had to collect 1,000 signatures to submit their petition to the AG’s office. If that petition is approved they will have to collect 460,000 more signatures to get the issue on the ballot.

“If it doesn't go through then…people are already losing their homes and you're going to be faced with a lot more,” Davey said. “So, it's not a pretty picture.”

Davey said a response from the AG could come by Friday, May 9.