Ohio - Counties are expecting to lose out on record amounts of money during the longest tax free holiday in Ohio. Now until Aug, 14. items under $500 from back to school supplies to furniture to even dine in experiences will not be subject to sales tax. 

Some see it as a time to head to their favorite store and save a little but some counties in our area are seeing it as a time they lose revenue that they have to prepare for.

“It's not going to be the straw that breaks the camels back here but we will have less for extra things,” Marth Yoder, the Trumbull County Auditor said.

Yoder estimates the loss for Trumbull County to be around $100,000 dollars more this year than last.

Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti told 21 News they could lose nearly $500,000. 

When it’s not a tax free state holiday, counties get a percentage from the sales tax when a purchase is made to fund a wide range of county services. 

  • Trumbull County 1%
  • Columbiana County 1.5%
  • Mahoning County 1.75%

“If we didn't have the sales tax that we have in place right now Mahoning County government would be would be hurting," Traficanti said. "Our life line is the sales tax."

Even with the significant dip this year, counties have prepared by already building those estimated losses into the budget when giving out money to departments.

“Budgetarily we are pretty good right now,” Traficanti said about Mahoning County. “This holiday should not affect us in any aspect at all.”

The counties won’t officially know how much they lose during the holiday until October.

If the actual losses dip lower than the estimates or if the state does not reimburse the counties sufficiently then it could start to affect the budgets - especially for Trumbull County who has relied heavily on the sale tax revenue this year.

“Is it going to bankrupt the county? Absolutely not, but does it make things harder? Yes,” Yoder said. 

Columbiana County Commissioner Mike Halleck told 21 News, they are also prepared for the holiday and don’t believe the losses will have an effect.