The Ohio House will meet July 21 in special session in an effort to override three of Gov. Mike DeWine’s four property tax vetoes.

State Rep. David Thomas, R-Jefferson, a House leader on property tax reform, said the legislative body has enough votes to override three of the vetoes. Thomas said he expects the Senate to meet as soon as later in the day on July 21 or the next day to vote on the overrides.

“Without a doubt, there is a strong push from our constituents to override,” said Thomas, who represents a portion of Trumbull County.

The only property tax veto by DeWine, a Republican, that won’t be considered at the July 21 session is the one that would have the largest impact on property taxpayers.

It would have limited school districts to only have up to 40% of their annual operating budget in their cash reserves. That was estimated to save $2.17 billion in property taxes.

There was a provision that the 40% limit could be exceeded if the money is kept in a separate fund for construction and maintenance projects.

Thomas said: “That one would have been the biggest stretch to override. The other three, we have the votes. I’m certain we’ll override the other three.”

Thomas said the Legislature can consider a veto override of the 40% limit at any time before the end of next year — and he wants to revisit it.

“It has the largest direct impact,” he said. “But a lot of schools would have shifted or hidden the money.”

The House and the Senate need a three-fifths vote to override – 60 in the House and 20 in the Senate.

The budget passed in the House 59-38, with five Republicans in opposition and 23-10 in the Senate, with one Republican voting no. Thomas said the five Republicans who voted against the bill are fiscal conservatives who didn’t believe the budget went far enough so there are enough members to override the three vetoes.

Among those three is a provision to give county budget commissions — made up of the county auditor, treasurer and prosecutor — control over tax rates and levies.

The commission would be permitted to unilaterally cut property tax rates if revenues exceed expenditures, even if voters approved ballot initiatives for that funding. There is debate whether that can already occur, but the Republican legislators wanted to make it crystal clear.

DeWine also vetoed a provision that required school districts to include emergency and substitute levies in their 20-Mill Floor, which guarantees they receive at least 20 mills of funding even if they are below that amount. This would have put about 200 of the state’s 611 school districts off the floor. There are about 400 districts in total that are currently under the amount, permitting them to essentially collect taxes that no one ever voted to support.

Thomas said this is an important provision that will help property owners.

The final veto took away a legislative-passed restriction on any government entity to seek replacement levies and for school districts also not permitted to ask for emergency or substitute levies.

DeWine said last week when discussing his vetoes that rising property taxes, particularly in the past three or so years, is a top concern. But, he said, “the provisions in this budget would put an undue, very abrupt (and) significant problem (on) our local school districts. We have to find solutions to our property tax problem.”

Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, said Tuesday: “Real property tax relief is one of the most pressing needs for everyday Ohioans and should absolutely be our focus. Instead of using state resources to put money back in the pocket of taxpayers, Republicans chose to give hundreds of millions in handouts to billionaires for sports teams and tax cuts for the richest people in the state. Gov. DeWine saw through the sham and knew these provisions would hurt our public schools and local governments, and that’s why he vetoed several of them.”