A substitute bill, sponsored by state Rep. David Thomas, to limit unvoted property taxes collected by school districts has a tremendous amount of momentum in the General Assembly as legislators work as quickly as possible to pass property tax reform.

The bill would limit the revenue school districts can receive from what is known as the 20-mill floor to inflation. Thomas, R-Jefferson, who represents portions of Trumbull County, said the bill would save Ohio homeowners nearly $1.7 billion over the next three years, starting with the second half of the 2026 tax bill.

The amendment, approved Sept. 24 by the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee, of which Thomas is vice chairman, has one significant change to a bill he and state Rep. Jim Hoops, R-Napoleon, introduced in March.

The previous bill would have taken effect when a county did a property revaluation, which occurs every three years, while the new bill calls for every county to start the change with the second half of 2026 tax bills.

“Instead of receiving a 30% increase because of an increase in property values, it will be tied to inflation,” Thomas said.

Inflation is about 3% a year.

“Had this bill passed in 2022, what would people be paying compared to what they’re actually paying now?” Thomas said. “It’s not retroactive, but we’re saying if we had a time machine and passed it in 2022 it would have saved about $1.7 billion. It’s a decrease from the increase.”

Every school district in the state is guaranteed to receive 20 mills. Close to 500 of the state’s 611 school districts have an effective rate that is below the guaranteed 20 mills floor, but 20 mills are still applied to the district’s value, Thomas said.

The 20-mill floor is a main reason for the large increases in unvoted property taxes over the past few years, Thomas said, as values increased.

Property tax owners have been screaming for the state Legislature to reform property taxes for years with the House and Senate largely ignoring them until this year. Also, a grassroots group is collecting signatures to put a proposal to completely eliminate property taxes on the November 2026 ballot.

Legislators are trying to make enough changes to property tax laws with the hope voters will reject the constitutional amendment.

The average property value in Mahoning County increased by 38% in the last revaluation in 2023 and by 35% in Trumbull County.

School district taxes are usually the largest part of a homeowner’s property tax bill.

Paul Imhoff, director of government relations for the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, which represents all Ohio public school superintendents, said his organization supports the original bill, but opposes the amended one.

The initial bill, he said, “was an appropriate response to certainly what is a huge property tax issue across the state of Ohio. We understand the need to reform property taxes so we (thought) that original bill was really a good, logical approach. Had it been in place three, four, five years ago, I don’t think we’d be sitting here today even discussing property taxes.”

Imhoff said his organization, which has worked with legislators on property tax reform, “had very, very little warning that anything was going to happen (to amend the bill). It is going to have a significant impact, specifically on rural schools across Ohio because they are much more likely to be at the 20-mill floor. This bill is limited to districts that are at the 20-mill floor and instead of looking on a prospective basis, it is now retroactive going back to ’23 and ’24. We’re looking at a situation where over half of the districts in the state of Ohio are going to get an actual cut, meaning they’re going to get less money in property taxes next year than they got this year.”

School districts make decisions on employment based on the money it collects, and if forced to make cuts, which many will have to do under this bill, Imhoff said students will be hurt.

“We have significant concerns with this level of cuts across the state, especially targeted at our rural schools,” he said.

Imhoff said if this bill goes into effect, a number of school districts will get “an actual cut in revenue from their property taxes.”

If the bill goes into effect, school districts in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, on average, will lose 2.8% of its property tax revenue in the first year, 3.8% in the second year and 3.9% in the third year.

Among school districts with projected double-digit losses in the second and third years in Mahoning County are Campbell, Jackson-Milton, Poland, Sebring, Springfield and Western Reserve.

In Trumbull County, they are Bloomfield-Mespo, Maplewood, McDonald, Newton Falls and Southington.

The Ohio Property Tax Working Group, formed by Gov. Mike DeWine, recommended the Thomas-sponsored substitute bill be adopted.

“The goal of the bill is to limit revenue windfalls in districts on the floor to provide property tax relief to Ohioans,” it recommended.

The group stated it preferred the original bill, but still supports the substitute bill and “believes the General Assembly should further amend (it) to apply to inside millage. In doing so, consideration should be given to local government inside millage beneficiaries to ensure their fiscal stability if property values should decline.”

David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.