Tax relief plan targets schools

FINDLAY — Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman on Friday touted a bill that would require school districts with surplus operating funds to distribute them to property tax payers. The measure was approved by the House last month to relieve outrage across the state over soaring property tax bills. It would also have to pass the Ohio Senate to become law. Generally about 65% of property taxes in Ohio go to school districts, Huffman, R-Lima, said. In addition, the Ohio Legislature over the decades has allocated a growing percentage of the state budget to schools. "Many school districts have accumulated more money than they can spend," Huffman said in a speech to the Hancock County Republican Party in Findlay. About 520 school districts of the 606 in Ohio had a carryover balance exceeding 25% of their annual operating budget last year, he said. The Ohio House's bill would require that school districts with over 30% in excess of operating funds at the end of a school year would have to give a property tax cut to taxpayers in the following tax year. Real estate property taxes have been soaring in Ohio because of rising property values and changes in laws over the years and decades, Huffman said. He said some school district leaders in Ohio have fought the House-passed legislation. One superintendent in the Columbus area argued that the district generated more funds by investing its surplus money. "The obvious question is, 'Well, don't you think the people who are paying the taxes would like to be making the (money) instead of having the money in your checking account?" Huffman said. Something needs to change. Huffman said that recently a group began gathering signatures on petitions to put an issue on the ballot statewide to eliminate all real estate taxes in Ohio. "And it's going to go on the ballot," he said. "So, somebody, somewhere has to do something. Somebody has to have the courage to say, 'We can't just keep upping the ante, over and over. We can't just keep raising real estate taxes and taking larger shares of the state budget. "If we're going to solve this problem before it collapses, somebody has to do something now," Huffman said. "So, your House Republican Legislature is doing something on that. "We're not doing anything other than saying, 'At least give back the money you're not spending. That's all. We're not telling you to spend less, or telling you what you need to spend the money on,'" he said. "'But if you're not spending it, give it back to the real estate property owners."