As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. B. No. 309

2025-2026

To amend sections 3317.01, 5705.01, 5705.03, 5705.13, 5705.27, 5705.28, 5705.29, 5705.31, 5705.32, 5705.321, 5705.35, 5705.36, 5705.37, 5747.51, and 5747.53 of the Revised Code to modify the law governing county budget commissions, property taxation, and alternative apportionment formulas for local government and public library funds.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 3317.01, 5705.01, 5705.03, 5705.13, 5705.27, 5705.28, 5705.29, 5705.31, 5705.32, 5705.321, 5705.35, 5705.36, 5705.37, 5747.51, and 5747.53 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 3317.01. As used in this section, "school district," unless otherwise specified, means any city, local, exempted village, joint vocational, or cooperative education school district and any educational service center.

This chapter shall be administered by the department of education and workforce. The department of education and workforce shall calculate the amounts payable to each school district and shall certify the amounts payable to each eligible district to the treasurer of the district as provided by this chapter. Certification of moneys pursuant to this section shall include the amounts payable to each school building, at a frequency determined by the department, for each subgroup of students, as defined in section 3317.40 of the Revised Code, receiving services, provided for by state funding, from the district or school. No moneys shall be distributed pursuant to this chapter without the approval of the controlling board.

The department shall, in accordance with appropriations made by the general assembly, meet the financial obligations of this chapter.

Moneys distributed to school districts pursuant to this chapter shall be calculated based on the annual enrollment calculated from the three reports required under sections 3317.03 and 3317.036 of the Revised Code and paid on a fiscal year basis, beginning with the first day of July and extending through the thirtieth day of June. In any given fiscal year, prior to school districts submitting the first report required under section 3317.03 of the Revised Code, enrollment for the districts shall be calculated based on the third report submitted by the districts for the previous fiscal year. The moneys appropriated for each fiscal year shall be distributed periodically to each school district unless otherwise provided for. The department, in June of each year, shall submit to the controlling board the department's year-end distributions pursuant to this chapter.

Except as otherwise provided, payments under this chapter shall be made only to those school districts in which:

(A) The school district, except for any educational service center and any joint vocational or cooperative education school district, levies for current operating expenses at least twenty mills, unless the school district is levying less than that amount due to a reduction in collections made under division (D) of section 5705.31 of the Revised Code or division (B) of section 5705.32 of the Revised Code relating to a declaration made by the board under division (E) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code. Levies for joint vocational or cooperative education school districts or county school financing districts, limited to or to the extent apportioned to current expenses, shall be included in this qualification requirement. School district income tax levies under Chapter 5748. of the Revised Code, limited to or to the extent apportioned to current operating expenses, shall be included in this qualification requirement to the extent determined by the tax commissioner under division (C) of section 3317.021 of the Revised Code.

(B) The school year next preceding the fiscal year for which such payments are authorized meets the requirement of section 3313.48 of the Revised Code, with regard to the minimum number of hours school must be open for instruction with pupils in attendance, for individualized parent-teacher conference and reporting periods, and for professional meetings of teachers.

A school district shall not be considered to have failed to comply with this division because schools were open for instruction but either twelfth grade students were excused from attendance for up to the equivalent of three school days or only a portion of the kindergarten students were in attendance for up to the equivalent of three school days in order to allow for the gradual orientation to school of such students.

A board of education or governing board of an educational service center which has not conformed with other law and the rules pursuant thereto, shall not participate in the distribution of funds authorized by this chapter, except for good and sufficient reason established to the satisfaction of the department and the state controlling board.

All funds allocated to school districts under this chapter, except those specifically allocated for other purposes, shall be used to pay current operating expenses only.

Sec. 5705.01. As used in this chapter:

(A) "Subdivision" means any county; municipal corporation; township; township police district; joint police district; township fire district; joint fire district; joint ambulance district; joint emergency medical services district; fire and ambulance district; joint recreation district; township waste disposal district; township road district; community college district; technical college district; detention facility district; a district organized under section 2151.65 of the Revised Code; a combined district organized under sections 2152.41 and 2151.65 of the Revised Code; a joint-county alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health service district; a drainage improvement district created under section 6131.52 of the Revised Code; a lake facilities authority created under Chapter 353. of the Revised Code; a union cemetery district; a county school financing district; a city, local, exempted village, cooperative education, joint vocational school district; a regional student education district created under section 3313.83 of the Revised Code; or a career-technical cooperative education district created under section 3313.831 of the Revised Code.

(B) "Municipal corporation" means all municipal corporations, including those that have adopted a charter under Article XVIII, Ohio Constitution.

(1) In the case of any county, the board of county commissioners; in the case of a municipal corporation, the council or other legislative authority of the municipal corporation; in the case of a city, local, exempted village, cooperative education, or joint vocational school district, the board of education; in the case of a community college district, the board of trustees of the district; in the case of a technical college district, the board of trustees of the district; in the case of a detention facility district, a district organized under section 2151.65 of the Revised Code, or a combined district organized under sections 2152.41 and 2151.65 of the Revised Code, the joint board of county commissioners of the district; in the case of a township, the board of township trustees; in the case of a joint police district, the joint police district board; in the case of a joint fire district, the board of fire district trustees; in the case of a joint recreation district, the joint recreation district board of trustees; in the case of a joint-county alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health service district, the district's board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services; in the case of a joint ambulance district or a fire and ambulance district, the board of trustees of the district; in the case of a union cemetery district, the legislative authority of the municipal corporation and the board of township trustees, acting jointly as described in section 759.341 of the Revised Code; in the case of a drainage improvement district, the board of county commissioners of the county in which the drainage district is located; in the case of a lake facilities authority, the board of directors; in the case of a joint emergency medical services district, the joint board of county commissioners of all counties in which all or any part of the district lies; and in the case of a township police district, a township fire district, a township road district, or a township waste disposal district, the board of township trustees of the township in which the district is located. ~~"Taxing authority" also means the~~

(2) The educational service center governing board that serves as the taxing authority of a county school financing district as provided in section 3311.50 of the Revised Code, the board of directors of a regional student education district created under section 3313.83 of the Revised Code, and the board of directors of a career-technical cooperative education district created under section 3313.831 of the Revised Code.

(3) The governing body responsible for levying a tax for any taxing unit for which a taxing authority is not defined pursuant to division (C)(1) or (2) of this section.

(D) "Fiscal officer" in the case of a county, means the county auditor; in the case of a municipal corporation, the city auditor or village clerk, or an officer who, by virtue of the charter, has the duties and functions of the city auditor or village clerk, except that in the case of a municipal university the board of directors of which have assumed, in the manner provided by law, the custody and control of the funds of the university, the chief accounting officer of the university shall perform, with respect to the funds, the duties vested in the fiscal officer of the subdivision by sections 5705.41 and 5705.44 of the Revised Code; in the case of a school district, the treasurer of the board of education; in the case of a county school financing district, the treasurer of the educational service center governing board that serves as the taxing authority; in the case of a township, the township fiscal officer; in the case of a joint police district, the treasurer of the district; in the case of a joint fire district, the clerk of the board of fire district trustees; in the case of a joint ambulance district, the clerk of the board of trustees of the district; in the case of a joint emergency medical services district, the person appointed as fiscal officer pursuant to division (D) of section 307.053 of the Revised Code; in the case of a fire and ambulance district, the person appointed as fiscal officer pursuant to division (B) of section 505.375 of the Revised Code; in the case of a joint recreation district, the person designated pursuant to section 755.15 of the Revised Code; in the case of a union cemetery district, the clerk of the municipal corporation designated in section 759.34 of the Revised Code; in the case of a children's home district, educational service center, general health district, joint-county alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health service district, county library district, detention facility district, district organized under section 2151.65 of the Revised Code, a combined district organized under sections 2152.41 and 2151.65 of the Revised Code, or a metropolitan park district for which no treasurer has been appointed pursuant to section 1545.07 of the Revised Code, the county auditor of the county designated by law to act as the auditor of the district; in the case of a metropolitan park district which has appointed a treasurer pursuant to section 1545.07 of the Revised Code, that treasurer; in the case of a drainage improvement district, the auditor of the county in which the drainage improvement district is located; in the case of a lake facilities authority, the fiscal officer designated under section 353.02 of the Revised Code; in the case of a regional student education district, the fiscal officer appointed pursuant to section 3313.83 of the Revised Code; in the case of a career-technical cooperative education district, the fiscal officer appointed pursuant to section 3313.831 of the Revised Code; and in all other cases, the officer responsible for keeping the appropriation accounts and drawing warrants for the expenditure of the moneys of the district or taxing unit.

(E) "Permanent improvement" or "improvement" means any property, asset, or improvement with an estimated life or usefulness of five years or more, including land and interests therein, and reconstructions, enlargements, and extensions thereof having an estimated life or usefulness of five years or more.

(F) "Current operating expenses" and "current expenses" mean the lawful expenditures of a subdivision, except those for permanent improvements, and except payments for interest, sinking fund, and retirement of bonds, notes, and certificates of indebtedness of the subdivision.

(G) "Debt charges" means interest, sinking fund, and retirement charges on bonds, notes, or certificates of indebtedness.

(H) "Taxing unit" means any subdivision or other governmental district having authority to levy taxes on the property in the district or issue bonds that constitute a charge against the property of the district, including conservancy districts, metropolitan park districts, sanitary districts, road districts, and other districts.

(I) "District authority" means any board of directors, trustees, commissioners, or other officers controlling a district institution or activity that derives its income or funds from two or more subdivisions, such as the educational service center, the trustees of district children's homes, the district board of health, a joint-county alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health service district's board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services, detention facility districts, a joint recreation district board of trustees, districts organized under section 2151.65 of the Revised Code, combined districts organized under sections 2152.41 and 2151.65 of the Revised Code, and other such boards.

(J) "Tax list" and "tax duplicate" mean the general tax lists and duplicates prescribed by sections 319.28 and 319.29 of the Revised Code.

(K) "Property" as applied to a tax levy means taxable property listed on general tax lists and duplicates.

(L) "Association library district" means a territory, the boundaries of which are defined by the state library board pursuant to division (I) of section 3375.01 of the Revised Code, in which a library association or private corporation maintains a free public library.

(M) "Library district" means a territory, the boundaries of which are defined by the state library board pursuant to section 3375.01 of the Revised Code, in which the board of trustees of a county, municipal corporation, school district, or township public library maintains a free public library.

(N) "Qualifying library levy" means either of the following:

(1) A levy for the support of a library association or private corporation that has an association library district with boundaries that are not identical to those of a subdivision;

(2) A levy proposed under section 5705.23 of the Revised Code for the support of the board of trustees of a public library that has a library district with boundaries that are not identical to those of a subdivision.

(O) "School library district" means a school district in which a free public library has been established that is under the control and management of a board of library trustees as provided in section 3375.15 of the Revised Code.

(P) "The county auditor's appraised value" means the true value in money of real property.

(Q)(1) "Effective rate" means one of the following:

(a) For a levy that is the renewal of an existing levy or an existing levy extended to additional territory, the effective tax rate of the levy on class one property, as most recently determined by the county auditor under section 323.08 of the Revised Code;

(b) For a levy that is the increase of an existing levy, the effective tax rate of the portion of the levy equal to the rate of the existing levy on class one property, as most recently determined by the county auditor under section 323.08 of the Revised Code, plus the rate of the additional portion of the levy;

(c) For a levy that is the decrease of an existing levy, the effective tax rate of the levy on class one property, as most recently determined by the county auditor under section 323.08 of the Revised Code, and as proportionately reduced to account for the decrease pursuant to rules adopted by the tax commissioner.

(2) As used in division (Q)(1) of this section:

(a) "Effective tax rate" has the same meaning in section 323.08 of the Revised Code.

(b) "Class one property" means real property classified as residential or agricultural under section 5713.041 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 5705.03. (A) The taxing authority of each subdivision may levy taxes annually, subject to the limitations of sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the Revised Code, on the real and personal property within the subdivision for the purpose of paying the current operating expenses of the subdivision and acquiring or constructing permanent improvements. The taxing authority of each subdivision and taxing unit shall, subject to the limitations of such sections, levy such taxes annually as are necessary to pay the interest and sinking fund on and retire at maturity the bonds, notes, and certificates of indebtedness of such subdivision and taxing unit, including levies in anticipation of which the subdivision or taxing unit has incurred indebtedness.

(B)(1) When a taxing authority determines that it is necessary to levy a tax outside the ten-mill limitation for any purpose authorized by the Revised Code, the taxing authority shall certify to the county auditor a resolution or ordinance requesting that the county auditor certify to the taxing authority the amounts described in division (B)(2) of this section. The resolution or ordinance shall state all of the following:

(a) The proposed rate of the tax, expressed in mills for each one dollar of taxable value, or the dollar amount of revenue to be generated by the proposed tax;

(b) The purpose of the tax;

(c) Whether the tax is an additional levy, a renewal or a replacement of an existing tax, a renewal or replacement of an existing tax with an increase or a decrease, a reduction or decrease of an existing tax, or an extension of an existing tax to additional territory;

(d) The section of the Revised Code authorizing submission of the question of the tax;

(e) The term of years of the tax or if the tax is for a continuing period of time;

(f) That the tax is to be levied upon the entire territory of the subdivision or, if authorized by the Revised Code, a description of the portion of the territory of the subdivision in which the tax is to be levied;

(g) The date of the election at which the question of the tax shall appear on the ballot;

(h) That the ballot measure shall be submitted to the entire territory of the subdivision or, if authorized by the Revised Code, a description of the portion of the territory of the subdivision to which the ballot measure shall be submitted;

(i) The tax year in which the tax will first be levied and the calendar year in which the tax will first be collected;

(j) Each such county in which the subdivision has territory.

(2) Upon receipt of a resolution or ordinance certified under division (B)(1) of this section, the county auditor shall certify to the taxing authority each of the following, as applicable to that levy:

(a) The total current tax valuation of the subdivision.

(b) The number of mills for each one dollar of taxable value that is required to generate a specified amount of revenue.

(i) If the levy is to renew, renew and increase, renew and decrease, reduce or decrease, or extend to additional territory an existing levy that is subject to reduction under section 319.301 of the Revised Code, the levy's effective rate, expressed in dollars, rounded to the nearest dollar, for each one hundred thousand dollars of the county auditor's appraised value;

(ii) For all other levies, the levy's rate, described in division (B)(2)(b) or (d) of this section, expressed in dollars, rounded to the nearest dollar, for each one hundred thousand dollars of the county auditor's appraised value.

(d) The dollar amount of revenue, rounded to the nearest dollar, that would be generated by a specified number of mills for each one dollar of taxable value.

(e) For any levy or portion of a levy except a levy or portion of a levy to pay debt charges, an estimate of the levy's annual collections, rounded to the nearest dollar, which shall be calculated assuming that the amount of the tax list of the taxing authority remains throughout the life of the levy the same as the amount of the tax list most recently certified by the auditor under division (A) of section 319.28 of the Revised Code.

If a subdivision is located in more than one county, the county auditor shall obtain from the county auditor of each other county in which the subdivision is located the current tax valuation for the portion of the subdivision in that county. The county auditor shall issue the certification to the taxing authority within ten days after receiving the taxing authority's resolution or ordinance requesting it.

(3) Upon receiving the certification from the county auditor under division (B)(2) of this section, the taxing authority may adopt a resolution or ordinance stating the rate of the tax levy, expressed in mills for each one dollar of taxable value and the rate or effective rate, as applicable, in dollars for each one hundred thousand dollars of the county auditor's appraised value, as estimated by the county auditor, and, except as otherwise provided in this division, that the taxing authority will proceed with the submission of the question of the tax to electors.

If the taxing authority is a board of county commissioners, the resolution shall direct the county budget commission to hold a public hearing to consider whether the question of the tax should be submitted to the electors. The board of county commissioners shall certify the resolution or ordinance to the county budget commission, which shall schedule a hearing for a date that is not less than ten and not more than thirty days after the date of certification.

During the hearing before each commission, the board of county commissioners, or a county department, authority, commission, office, or board designed by the board of county commissioners, shall present evidence demonstrating the necessity of the levy to the county budget commission. The county budget commission shall make a recommendation, issued on a majority vote of the commissioners.

The taxing authority shall certify ~~this~~ the resolution or ordinance adopted under division (B)(3) of this section, a copy of the county auditor's certifications, a copy of the county budget commission's recommendation if required, and the resolution or ordinance the taxing authority adopted under division (B)(1) of this section to the proper county board of elections in the manner and within the time prescribed by the section of the Revised Code governing submission of the question. The county board of elections shall not submit the question of the tax to electors unless a copy of the county auditor's certification ~~accompanies~~ and any necessary county budget commission recommendation accompanies the resolutions or ordinances the taxing authority certifies to the board. Before requesting a taxing authority to submit a tax levy, any agency or authority authorized to make that request shall first request the certification from the county auditor provided under this section.

(4) This division is supplemental to, and not in derogation of, any similar requirement governing the certification by the county auditor of the tax valuation of a subdivision or necessary tax rates for the purposes of the submission of the question of a tax in excess of the ten-mill limitation, including sections 133.18 and 5705.195 of the Revised Code.

(C) All taxes levied on property shall be extended on the tax list and duplicate by the county auditor of the county in which the property is located, and shall be collected by the county treasurer of such county in the same manner and under the same laws and rules as are prescribed for the assessment and collection of county taxes. The proceeds of any tax levied by or for any subdivision when received by its fiscal officer shall be deposited in its treasury to the credit of the appropriate fund.

Sec. 5705.13. (A) A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or ordinance, may establish reserve balance accounts to accumulate currently available resources for the following purposes:

(1) To stabilize subdivision budgets against cyclical changes in revenues and expenditures;

(2) Except as otherwise provided by this section, to provide for the payment of claims and deductibles under an individual or joint self-insurance program for the subdivision, if the subdivision is permitted by law to establish such a program;

(3) To provide for the payment of claims, assessments, and deductibles under a self-insurance program, individual retrospective ratings plan, group rating plan, group retrospective rating plan, medical only program, deductible plan, or large deductible plan for workers' compensation.

The ordinance or resolution establishing a reserve balance account shall state the purpose for which the account is established, the fund in which the account is to be established, and the total amount of money to be reserved in the account.

Not more than one reserve balance account may be established for each of the purposes permitted under divisions (A)(2) and (3) of this section. Money to the credit of a reserve balance account may be expended only for the purpose for which the account was established.

A reserve balance account established for the purpose described in division (A)(1) of this section may be established in the general fund or in one or more special funds for operating purposes of the subdivision. The amount of money to be reserved in such an account in any fiscal year shall not exceed five per cent of the revenue credited in the preceding fiscal year to the fund in which the account is established, or, in the case of a reserve balance account of a county or of a township, the greater of that amount or one-sixth of the expenditures during the preceding fiscal year from the fund in which the account is established. Subject to division ~~(F)~~(G) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code, any reserve balance in an account established under division (A)(1) of this section shall not be considered part of the unencumbered balance or revenue of the subdivision under division (A) of section 5705.35 or division (A)(1) of section 5705.36 of the Revised Code.

At any time, a taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or ordinance, may reduce or eliminate the reserve balance in a reserve balance account established for the purpose described in division (A)(1) of this section.

A reserve balance account established for the purpose described in division (A)(2) or (3) of this section shall be established in the general fund of the subdivision or by the establishment of a separate internal service fund established to account for the operation of an individual or joint self-insurance program described in division (A)(2) of this section or a workers' compensation program or plan described in division (A)(3) of this section, and shall be based on sound actuarial principles. The total amount of money in a reserve balance account for self-insurance may be expressed in dollars or as the amount determined to represent an adequate reserve according to sound actuarial principles.

A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or ordinance, may rescind a reserve balance account established under this division. If a reserve balance account is rescinded, money that has accumulated in the account shall be transferred to the fund or funds from which the money originally was transferred.

(B) A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or ordinance, may establish a special revenue fund for the purpose of accumulating resources for the payment of accumulated sick leave and vacation leave, and for payments in lieu of taking compensatory time off, upon the termination of employment or the retirement of officers and employees of the subdivision. The special revenue fund may also accumulate resources for payment of salaries during any fiscal year when the number of pay periods exceeds the usual and customary number of pay periods. Notwithstanding sections 5705.14, 5705.15, and 5705.16 of the Revised Code, the taxing authority, by resolution or ordinance, may transfer money to the special revenue fund from any other fund of the subdivision from which such payments may lawfully be made. The taxing authority, by resolution or ordinance, may rescind a special revenue fund established under this division. If a special revenue fund is rescinded, money that has accumulated in the fund shall be transferred to the fund or funds from which the money originally was transferred.

(C) A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or ordinance, may establish a capital projects fund for the purpose of accumulating resources for the acquisition, construction, or improvement of fixed assets of the subdivision. For the purposes of this section, "fixed assets" includes motor vehicles. More than one capital projects fund may be established and may exist at any time. The ordinance or resolution shall identify the source of the money to be used to acquire, construct, or improve the fixed assets identified in the resolution or ordinance, the amount of money to be accumulated for that purpose, the period of time over which that amount is to be accumulated, and the fixed assets that the taxing authority intends to acquire, construct, or improve with the money to be accumulated in the fund.

A taxing authority of a subdivision shall not accumulate money in a capital projects fund for more than ten years after the resolution or ordinance establishing the fund is adopted. If the subdivision has not entered into a contract for the acquisition, construction, or improvement of fixed assets for which money was accumulated in such a fund before the end of that ten-year period, the fiscal officer of the subdivision shall transfer all money in the fund to the fund or funds from which that money originally was transferred or the fund that originally was intended to receive the money.

A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or ordinance, may rescind a capital projects fund. If a capital projects fund is rescinded, money that has accumulated in the fund shall be transferred to the fund or funds from which the money originally was transferred.

Notwithstanding sections 5705.14, 5705.15, and 5705.16 of the Revised Code, the taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or ordinance, may transfer money to the capital projects fund from any other fund of the subdivision that may lawfully be used for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, or improving the fixed assets identified in the resolution or ordinance.

Sec. 5705.27. (A) There is hereby created in each county a county budget commission consisting of the county auditor, the county treasurer, and the prosecuting attorney. Upon petition filed with the board of elections, signed by the number of electors of the county equal in amount to three per cent of the total number of votes cast for governor at the most recent election therefor, there shall be submitted to the electors of the county at the next general election occurring not sooner than ninety days after the filing of the petition, the question "Shall the county budget commission consist of two additional members to be elected from the county?" Provision shall be made on the ballot for the election from the county at large of two additional members of the county budget commission who shall be electors of the county if a majority of the electors voting on the question shall have voted in the affirmative. In such counties, where the electors have voted in the affirmative, the county budget commission shall consist of such two elected members in addition to the county auditor, the county treasurer and the prosecuting attorney. Such members, who shall not hold any other public office, shall serve for a term of four years.

(B) The commission shall meet at the office of the county auditor in each county on the first Monday in February and on the first Monday in August, annually, and shall complete its work on or before the first day of September, annually, unless for good cause the tax commissioner extends the time for completing the work. Meetings of the commission are subject to section 121.22 of the Revised Code, except as provided in division (C) of this section. A majority of members shall constitute a quorum, provided that no action of the commission shall be valid unless agreed to by a majority of the members of the commission. The auditor shall be the secretary of the commission and shall keep a full and accurate record of all proceedings. The auditor shall appoint such messengers and clerks as the commission deems necessary, and the budget commissioners shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses. The elected members of the commission shall also receive twenty dollars for each day in attendance at commission meetings and in discharge of official duties.

(C) Members of the commission may attend commission meetings by means of communications equipment authorized under this division by rule of the commission, including by video conference or teleconference. Notwithstanding division (C) of section 121.22 of the Revised Code, commission members who attend a board meeting by means of authorized communications equipment shall be considered present in person at the meeting, shall be permitted to vote, and shall be counted for purposes of determining whether a quorum is present at the meeting.

The commission shall maintain a record of any vote or other action taken at a commission meeting conducted by means of authorized communications equipment. The record also shall identify the members attending the board meeting by means of authorized communications equipment.

The commission shall adopt rules designating the communications equipment that is authorized for use during commission meetings. The commission also shall adopt rules that establish procedures and guidelines for using authorized communications equipment during commission meetings and that ensure verification of the identity of any commission members attending commission meetings by such means.

(D) Any vacancy among such elected members shall be filled by the presiding judge of the court of common pleas.

(E) In adjusting the rates of taxation and fixing the amount of taxes to be levied each year, the commissioners shall be governed by the amount of the taxable property shown on the auditor's tax list for the current year; provided that if the auditor's tax list has not been completed, the auditor shall estimate, as nearly as practicable, the amount of the taxable property for such year, and such officers shall be governed by such estimate.

(F) In any county in which two members of the commission are elected, upon petition filed with the board of elections, signed by the number of electors of the county equal in amount to three per cent of the votes cast for governor at the most recent election therefor, there shall be submitted to the electors of the county at the next general election occurring not sooner than ninety days after the filing of the petition, the question "Shall the elected members be eliminated from the county budget commission?" If the majority of the electors voting thereon shall have voted in the affirmative, the county budget commission shall consist solely of the county auditor, the county treasurer, and the prosecuting attorney.

Sec. 5705.28. (A) Except as provided in division (B)(1) or (2) of this section or in section 5705.281 of the Revised Code, the taxing authority of each subdivision or other taxing unit shall adopt a tax budget for the next succeeding fiscal year:

(1) On or before the fifteenth day of January in the case of school districts and the city of Cincinnati;

(2) On or before the fifteenth day of July in the case of all other subdivisions and taxing units.

(B)(1) Before the first day of June in each year, the board of trustees of a school library district entitled to participate in any appropriation or revenue of a school district or to have a tax proposed by the board of education of a school district shall file with the board of education of the school district a tax budget for the ensuing fiscal year. On or before the fifteenth day of July in each year, the board of education of a school district to which a school library district tax budget was submitted under this division shall adopt such tax budget on behalf of the library district, but such budget shall not be part of the school district's tax budget.

(2)(a) The taxing authority of a taxing unit that does not levy a tax is not required to adopt a tax budget pursuant to division (A) of this section. Instead, on or before the fifteenth day of July each year, such taxing authority shall adopt an operating budget for the taxing unit for the ensuing fiscal year. The operating budget shall include an estimate of receipts from all sources, a statement of all taxing unit expenses that are anticipated to occur, and the amount required for debt charges during the fiscal year. The operating budget is not required to be filed with the county auditor or the county budget commission.

(b) Except for this section and sections 5705.36, 5705.38, 5705.40, 5705.41, 5705.43, 5705.44, and 5705.45 of the Revised Code, a taxing unit that does not levy a tax is not a taxing unit for purposes of Chapter 5705. of the Revised Code. Documents prepared in accordance with such sections are not required to be filed with the county auditor or county budget commission.

(c) The total appropriations from each fund of a taxing unit that does not levy a tax shall not exceed the total estimated revenue available for expenditures from the fund, and appropriations shall be made from each fund only for the purposes for which the fund is established.

(C)(1) To assist in the preparation of the tax budget, the head of each department, board, commission, and district authority entitled to participate in any appropriation or revenue of a subdivision shall file with the taxing authority, or in the case of a municipal corporation, with its chief executive officer, before the forty-fifth day prior to the date on which the budget must be adopted, an estimate of contemplated revenue and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, in such form as is prescribed by the taxing authority of the subdivision or by the auditor of state. The taxing authority shall include in its budget of expenditures the full amounts requested by district authorities, not to exceed the amount authorized by law, if such authorities may fix the amount of revenue they are to receive from the subdivision. In a municipal corporation in which a special levy for a municipal university has been authorized to be levied in excess of the ten-mill limitation, or is required by the charter of the municipal corporation, the taxing authority shall include an amount not less than the estimated yield of such levy, if such amount is requested by the board of directors of the municipal university.

(2) A county board of developmental disabilities may include within its estimate of contemplated revenue and expenditures a reserve balance account in the community developmental disabilities residential services fund. The account shall contain money that is not needed to pay for current expenses for residential services and supported living but will be needed to pay for expenses for such services in the future or may be needed for unanticipated emergency expenses. On the request of the county board of developmental disabilities, the board of county commissioners shall include such an account in its budget of expenditures and appropriate money to the account from residential service moneys for the county board.

(D) The board of trustees of any public library desiring to participate in the distribution of the county public library fund shall adopt appropriate rules extending the benefits of the library service of such library to all the inhabitants of the county on equal terms, unless such library service is by law available to all such inhabitants, and shall certify a copy of such rules to the taxing authority with its estimate of contemplated revenue and expenditures. Where such rules have been so certified or where the adoption of such rules is not required, the taxing authority shall include in its budget of receipts such amounts as are specified by such board as contemplated revenue from the county public library fund, and in its budget of expenditures the full amounts requested therefrom by such board. No library association, incorporated or unincorporated, is entitled to participate in the proceeds of the county public library fund unless such association both was organized and operating prior to January 1, 1968, and participated in the distribution of the proceeds of the county public library fund prior to December 31, 2005.

(E) Any health district created under Chapter 3709. of the Revised Code that does not file an estimate of contemplated revenue and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year pursuant to division (C) of this section shall adopt a tax budget on its own behalf pursuant to division (A) of this section.

Sec. 5705.29. This section does not apply to a subdivision or taxing unit for which the county budget commission has waived the requirement to adopt a tax budget pursuant to section 5705.281 of the Revised Code. The tax budget shall present the following information in such detail as is prescribed by the auditor of state:

(A)(1) A statement of the necessary current operating expenses for the ensuing fiscal year for each department and division of the subdivision, classified as to personal services and other expenses, and the fund from which such expenditures are to be made. Except in the case of a school district, this estimate may include a contingent expense not designated for any particular purpose, and not to exceed three per cent of the total amount of appropriations for current expenses. In the case of a school district, this estimate may include a contingent expense not designated for any particular purpose and not to exceed thirteen per cent of the total amount of appropriations for current expenses.

(2) A statement of the expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year necessary for permanent improvements, exclusive of any expense to be paid from bond issues, classified as to the improvements contemplated by the subdivision and the fund from which such expenditures are to be made;

(3) The amounts required for the payment of final judgments;

(4) A statement of expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year necessary for any purpose for which a special levy is authorized, and the fund from which such expenditures are to be made;

(5) Comparative statements, so far as possible, in parallel columns of corresponding items of expenditures for the current fiscal year, including a statement of estimated expenses to the end of that fiscal year, and the two preceding fiscal years.

(B)(1) An estimate of receipts from other sources than the general property tax during the ensuing fiscal year, which shall include an estimate of unencumbered balances at the end of the current fiscal year, and the funds to which such estimated receipts are credited;

(2) The amount each fund requires from the general property tax, which shall be the difference between the contemplated expenditure from the fund and the estimated receipts, as provided in this section. The section of the Revised Code under which the tax is authorized shall be set forth.

(3) Comparative statements, so far as possible, in parallel columns of taxes and other revenues for the current fiscal year and the two preceding fiscal years.

(C)(1) The amount required for debt charges;

(2) The estimated receipts from sources other than the tax levy for payment of such debt charges, including the proceeds of refunding bonds to be issued to refund bonds maturing in the next succeeding fiscal year;

(3) The net amount for which a tax levy shall be made, classified as to bonds authorized and issued prior to January 1, 1922, and those authorized and issued subsequent to such date, and as to what portion of the levy will be within and what in excess of the ten-mill limitation.

(D) An estimate of amounts from taxes authorized to be levied in excess of the ten-mill limitation on the tax rate, and the fund to which such amounts will be credited, together with the sections of the Revised Code under which each such tax is exempted from all limitations on the tax rate.

~~(E)(1)~~(E) If the taxing unit estimates that it will collect more revenue in the succeeding fiscal year than in the current fiscal year from any tax levied within the ten mill limitation or due to the operation of division (E) of section 319.301 of the Revised Code, a declaration of the taxing unit's intent to collect or forgo the additional revenue.

(F)(1) A board of education may include in its budget for the fiscal year in which a levy proposed under section 5705.194, 5705.199, 5705.21, 5705.213, or 5705.219, a property tax levy proposed under section 5748.09, or the original levy under section 5705.212 of the Revised Code is first extended on the tax list and duplicate an estimate of expenditures to be known as a voluntary contingency reserve balance, which shall not be greater than twenty-five per cent of the total amount of the levy estimated to be available for appropriation in such year.

(2) A board of education may include in its budget for the fiscal year following the year in which a levy proposed under section 5705.194, 5705.199, 5705.21, 5705.213, or 5705.219, a property tax levy proposed under section 5748.09, or the original levy under section 5705.212 of the Revised Code is first extended on the tax list and duplicate an estimate of expenditures to be known as a voluntary contingency reserve balance, which shall not be greater than twenty per cent of the amount of the levy estimated to be available for appropriation in such year.

(3) Except as provided in division ~~(E)(4)~~(F)(4) of this section, the full amount of any reserve balance the board includes in its budget shall be retained by the county auditor and county treasurer out of the first semiannual settlement of taxes until the beginning of the next succeeding fiscal year, and thereupon, with the depository interest apportioned thereto, it shall be turned over to the board of education, to be used for the purposes of such fiscal year.

(4) A board of education, by a two-thirds vote of all members of the board, may appropriate any amount withheld as a voluntary contingency reserve balance during the fiscal year for any lawful purpose, provided that prior to such appropriation the board of education has authorized the expenditure of all amounts appropriated for contingencies under section 5705.40 of the Revised Code. Upon request by the board of education, the county auditor shall draw a warrant on the district's account in the county treasury payable to the district in the amount requested.

~~(F)~~(G) Except as otherwise provided in this division and section 5705.32 of the Revised Code, the county budget commission shall not reduce the taxing authority of a subdivision as a result of the creation of a reserve balance account. Except as otherwise provided in this division, the county budget commission shall not consider the amount in a reserve balance account of a township, county, or municipal corporation as an unencumbered balance or as revenue for the purposes of division (E)(3) or (4) of section 5747.51 of the Revised Code. The county budget commission may require documentation of the reasonableness of the reserve balance held in any reserve balance account. The commission shall consider any amount in a reserve balance account that it determines to be unreasonable as unencumbered and as revenue for the purposes of section 5747.51 of the Revised Code and may take such amounts into consideration when determining whether to reduce the taxing authority of a subdivision.

Sec. 5705.31. The county auditor shall present to the county budget commission the annual tax budgets submitted under sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the Revised Code, together with an estimate prepared by the auditor of the amount of any state levy, the rate of any school tax levy as previously determined, the tax commissioner's estimate of the amount to be received in the county public library fund, the tax rates provided under section 5705.281 of the Revised Code if adoption of the tax budget was waived under that section, and such other information as the commission requests or the tax commissioner prescribes. ~~The~~

The budget commission shall examine such budget and ascertain the total amount proposed to be raised in the county for the purposes of each subdivision and other taxing units in the county and the need for those amounts. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the county budget commission may reduce the amount to be raised by any levy pursuant to section 5705.32 of the Revised Code.

The commission shall ascertain that the following levies have been properly authorized and, if so authorized, shall approve them without modification:

(A) All levies in excess of the ten-mill limitation; in the first year they are levied, unless the levy is the renewal of an existing tax or the subdivision or taxing unit requests an amount requiring a lower rate for the succeeding fiscal year. Such a request for an amount requiring a lower rate applies only to the succeeding fiscal year unless the subdivision or taxing unit expressly states that the request is permanent.

(B) All levies for unsatisfied debt charges ~~not provided for by levies in excess of the ten-mill limitation~~, including levies that remain necessary to pay notes issued for emergency purposes;

(D) Except as otherwise provided in this division, a minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation for the current expense and debt service of each subdivision or taxing unit, which shall equal two-thirds of the average levy for current expenses and debt service allotted within the fifteen-mill limitation to such subdivision or taxing unit during the last five years the fifteen-mill limitation was in effect unless such subdivision or taxing unit requests an amount requiring a lower rate~~. Except~~ for the succeeding fiscal year, or if it expressed its intent to forgo collections from such a levy under division (E) of section 5705.26 of the Revised Code. Such a request for an amount requiring a lower rate applies only to the succeeding fiscal year unless the subdivision or taxing unit expressly states that the request is permanent.

Except as provided in section 5705.312 of the Revised Code, if the levies required in divisions (B) and (C) of this section for the subdivision or taxing unit equal or exceed the entire minimum levy of the subdivision as fixed, the minimum levies of the other subdivisions or taxing units shall be reduced by the commission to provide for the levies and an operating levy for the subdivision. Such additional levy shall be deducted from the minimum levies of each of the other subdivisions or taxing units, but the operating levy for a school district shall not be reduced below a figure equivalent to forty-five per cent of the millage available within the ten-mill limitation after all the levies in divisions (B) and (C) of this section have been provided for.

If a municipal corporation and a township have entered into an annexation agreement under section 709.192 of the Revised Code in which they agree to reallocate their shares of the minimum levies established under this division and if that annexation agreement is submitted along with the annual tax budget of both the township and the municipal corporation, then, when determining the minimum levy under this division, the auditor shall allocate, to the extent possible, the minimum levy for that municipal corporation and township in accordance with their annexation agreement.

~~(E) The levies prescribed by section 3709.29 of the Revised Code.~~

Divisions (A) to ~~(E)~~(D) of this section are mandatory, and commissions shall be without discretion to reduce such minimum levies except as provided in such divisions.

If any debt charge is omitted from the budget, the commission shall include it therein.

Sec. 5705.32. (A) As used in this section, "fixed-sum levy" means a tax levied on property at whatever rate is required to produce a specified amount of tax money or levied in excess of the ten-mill limitation to pay debt charges, including a tax levied under section 5705.199 of the Revised Code.

(B) The county budget commission shall adjust the estimated amounts required from the general property tax for each fund, as shown by the tax budgets or other information required to be provided under section 5705.281 of the Revised Code, so as to bring the tax levies required therefor within the limitations specified in sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the Revised Code, for such levies, but no levy shall be reduced pursuant to this division below a minimum fixed by law. The commission may revise and adjust the estimate of balances and receipts from all sources for each fund and shall determine the total appropriations that may be made therefrom.

The county budget commission shall adjust the rate of a fixed-sum levy such as is necessary for the levy to produce the levy's specified amount of money for the tax year.

If a taxing unit declared its intent to forgo collections under division (E) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code, the commission shall adjust the rate of each levy as required to result in that reduction in collections.

(C) If, as shown by a tax budget or other information required pursuant to section 5705.281 of the Revised Code, the unencumbered balance estimated to remain in any fund at the end of the current fiscal year exceeds thirty per cent of the total estimated expenses from that fund through the end of the current fiscal year, the county budget commission shall hold a public hearing to consider adjustments to any tax levies, the receipts of which are deposited into the fund.

The hearing shall be held to determine whether those levies should be adjusted for the succeeding fiscal year to avoid excessive collections. The taxing authority for whose benefit the tax is levied shall be given the opportunity, at the public hearing, to present its position as to whether the levy should be adjusted and to provide evidence supporting that position.

If, after the public hearing, the commission determines that one or more levies should be adjusted to avoid excessive collections, the commission may reduce the levy for the following fiscal year by an amount, or a rate the results in an amount, that is up to or equal to the amount by which the estimated fiscal-year-end unencumbered balance in the fund exceeds thirty per cent of the estimated fiscal-year-end expenditures from the fund. But, no levy may be reduced to a level that would cause a school district subject to division (A) of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code to levy less than twenty mills for current operating expenses as required by that division, except as authorized in division (B) of this section or division (D) of section 5705.31 of the Revised Code.

~~(B)~~(D) The commission shall fix the amount of the county public library fund to be distributed to each board of public library trustees that has qualified under section 5705.28 of the Revised Code for participation in the proceeds of such fund. The amount paid to all libraries in the county from such fund shall never be a smaller per cent of the fund than the average of the percentages of the county's classified taxes that were distributed to libraries in 1982, 1983, and 1984, as determined by the county auditor. The commission shall base the amount for distribution on the needs of such library for the construction of new library buildings, parts of buildings, improvements, operation, maintenance, or other expenses. In determining the needs of each library board of trustees, and in calculating the amount to be distributed to any library board of trustees on the basis of its needs, the commission shall make no reduction in its allocation from the fund on account of additional revenues realized by a library from increased taxes or service charges voted by its electorate, from revenues received through federal or state grants, projects, or programs, or from grants from private sources.

~~(C)~~(E) Notwithstanding the fact that alternative methods of financing such needs are available, after fixing the amount to be distributed to libraries, the commission shall fix the amount, if any, of the county public library fund to be distributed to each board of township park commissioners, the county, and each municipal corporation in accordance with the following:

(1) Each municipal corporation in the county shall receive a per cent of the remainder that equals the per cent that the county auditor determines the classified property taxes originating in such municipal corporation in 1984 were of the total of all of the county's classified property taxes in 1984. The commission may deduct from this amount any amount that the budget commission allows to the board of township park commissioners of a township park district, the boundaries of which are coextensive with or contained within the boundaries of the municipal corporation.

(2) The county shall receive a per cent of the remainder that equals the per cent that the county auditor determines the classified property taxes originating outside of the boundaries of municipal corporations in the county in 1984 were of the total of all of the county's classified property taxes in 1984. The commission may deduct from this amount any amount that the budget commission allows to the board of township park commissioners of a township park district, the boundaries of which are not coextensive with or contained within those of any municipal corporation in the county.

~~(D)~~(F) The commission shall separately set forth the amounts fixed and determined under divisions ~~(B)~~(D) and ~~(C)~~(E) of this section in the "official certificate of estimated resources," as provided in section 5705.35 of the Revised Code, and separately certify such amount to the county auditor who shall be guided thereby in the distribution of the county public library fund for and during the fiscal year. In determining such amounts, the commission shall be guided by the estimate certified by the tax commissioner and presented by the auditor under section 5705.31 of the Revised Code, as to the total amount of revenue to be received in the county public library fund during such fiscal year.

~~(E)(1)~~(G)(1) At least five days before the date of any meeting at which the budget commission plans to discuss the distribution of the county public library fund, it shall notify each legislative authority and board of public library trustees, county commissioners, and township park commissioners eligible to participate in the distribution of the fund of the date, time, place, and agenda for the meeting. Any legislative authority or board entitled to notice under this division may designate an officer or employee of such legislative authority or board to whom the commission shall deliver the notice.

(2) Before the final determination of the amount to be allotted to each subdivision from any source, the commission shall permit representatives of each subdivision and of each board of public library trustees to appear before it to explain its financial needs.

~~(F)~~(H) If any public library receives and expends any funds allocated to it under this section for the construction of new library buildings or parts of buildings, such library shall be free and open to the inhabitants of the county in which it is located. Any board of library trustees that receives funds under this section and section 5747.48 of the Revised Code shall have its financial records open for public inspection at all reasonable times.

Sec. 5705.321. (A) ~~As used in this section:~~

(1) "City, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population" means the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population residing in the county; however, if the county budget commission on or before January 1, 1998, adopted an alternative method of apportionment that was approved by the city, located partially in the county, with the greatest population but not the greatest population residing in the county, "city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population" means the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population whether residing in the county or not, if this alternative meaning is adopted by action of the board of county commissioners and a majority of the boards of township trustees and legislative authorities of municipal corporations located wholly or partially in the county.

~~(2) "Participating political subdivision" means a municipal corporation or township that satisfies all of the following:~~

~~(a) It is located wholly or partially in the county.~~

~~(b) It is not the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population.~~

~~(c) Public library fund moneys are apportioned to it under the county's alternative method or formula of apportionment in the current calendar year.~~

~~(B)~~ In lieu of the method of apportionment of the county public library fund provided by division ~~(C)~~(E) of section 5705.32 of the Revised Code, the county budget commission may provide for the apportionment of the fund under an alternative method or on a formula basis as authorized by this section.

~~Except as otherwise provided in division (C) of this section, the~~ The alternative method of apportionment shall have first been approved by ~~all of the following governmental units:~~ the board of county commissioners~~; the legislative authority of the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population;~~ and a majority of the boards or legislative authorities of township trustees and legislative authorities of municipal corporations, located wholly or partially in the county, excluding the legislative authority of the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest populationany subdivision for which the county budget commission has fixed an allocation from public library fund moneys under the existing method of apportionment. In granting or denying approval for an alternative method of apportionment, the board of county commissioners~~, boards of township trustees,~~ and legislative authorities of ~~municipal corporations~~ subdivisions shall act by motion. A motion to approve shall be passed upon a majority vote of the members of a board of county commissioners~~, board of township trustees,~~ or legislative authority ~~of a municipal corporation~~, shall take effect immediately, and need not be published.

Any alternative method of apportionment adopted and approved under this division may be revised, amended, or repealed in the same manner as it may be adopted and approved. If an alternative method of apportionment adopted and approved under this division is repealed, the county public library fund shall be apportioned among the subdivisions eligible to participate in the fund, commencing in the ensuing calendar year, under the apportionment provided in divisions ~~(B)~~(D) and ~~(C)~~(E) of section 5705.32 of the Revised Code, unless ~~the repeal occurs by operation of division (C) of this section or~~ a new method for apportionment of the fund is provided in the action of repeal.

(C) This division applies only in counties in which the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population has a population of twenty thousand or less and a population that is less than fifteen per cent of the total population of the county. In such a county, the legislative authorities or boards of township trustees of two or more participating political subdivisions, which together have a population residing in the county that is a majority of the total population of the county, each may adopt a resolution to exclude the approval otherwise required of the legislative authority of the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population. All of the resolutions to exclude that approval shall be adopted not later than the first Monday of August of the year preceding the calendar year in which distributions are to be made under an alternative method of apportionment.

A motion granting or denying approval of an alternative method of apportionment under this division shall be adopted by a majority vote of the members of the board of county commissioners and by a majority vote of a majority of the boards of township trustees and legislative authorities of the municipal corporations located wholly or partially in the county, other than the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population, shall take effect immediately, and need not be published. The alternative method of apportionment under this division shall be adopted and approved annually, not later than the first Monday of August of the year preceding the calendar year in which distributions are to be made under it. A motion granting approval of an alternative method of apportionment under this division repeals any existing alternative method of apportionment, effective with distributions to be made from the fund in the ensuing calendar year. An alternative method of apportionment under this division shall not be revised or amended after the first Monday of August of the year preceding the calendar year in which distributions are to be made under it.

~~(D)~~ (B) In determining an alternative method of apportionment authorized by this section, the county budget commission may include in the method any factor considered to be appropriate and reliable, in the sole discretion of the county budget commission.

~~(E)~~(C) On the basis of any alternative method of apportionment adopted and approved as authorized by this section, as certified by the auditor to the county treasurer, the county treasurer shall make distribution of the money in the county public library fund to each subdivision eligible to participate in the fund, and the auditor, when the amount of those shares is in the custody of the treasurer in the amounts so computed to be due the respective subdivisions, shall at the same time certify to the tax commissioner the percentage share of the county as a subdivision. All money received into the treasury of a subdivision from the county public library fund in a county treasury shall be paid into the general fund and used for the current operating expenses of the subdivision.

~~(F)~~(D) The actions of the county budget commission taken pursuant to this section are final and may not be appealed to the board of tax appeals, except on the issues of abuse of discretion and failure to comply with the formula.

Sec. 5705.35. (A) The certification of the budget commission to the taxing authority of each subdivision or taxing unit, as set forth in section 5705.34 of the Revised Code, shall show the various funds of such subdivisions other than funds to be created by transfer and shall be filed by the county budget commission with such taxing authority on or before the first day of March in the case of school districts and the city of Cincinnati and on or before the first day of September in each year in the case of all other taxing authorities. There shall be set forth on the credit side of each fund the estimated unencumbered balances and receipts, and if a tax is to be levied for such fund, the estimated revenue to be derived therefrom, the rate of the levy, and what portion thereof is within, and what in excess of, the ten-mill tax limitation, and on the debit side, the total appropriations that may be made therefrom. Subject to division ~~(F)~~(G) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code, any reserve balance in an account established under section 5705.13 of the Revised Code for the purpose described in division (A)(1) of that section, and the principal of a nonexpendable trust fund established under section 5705.131 of the Revised Code and any additions to principal arising from sources other than the reinvestment of investment earnings arising from that fund, are not unencumbered balances for the purposes of this section. The balance in a reserve balance account established under section 5705.132 of the Revised Code is not an unencumbered balance for the purposes of this division.

There shall be attached to the certification a summary, which shall be known as the "official certificate of estimated resources," that shall state the total estimated resources of each fund of the subdivision that are available for appropriation in the fiscal year, other than funds to be created by transfer, and a statement of the amount of the total tax duplicate of the school district to be used in the collection of taxes for the following calendar year. Before the end of the fiscal year, the taxing authority of each subdivision and other taxing unit shall revise its tax budget, if one was adopted, so that the total contemplated expenditures from any fund during the ensuing fiscal year will not exceed the total appropriations that may be made from such fund, as determined by the budget commission in its certification; and such revised budget shall be the basis of the annual appropriation measure.

(B) Revenue from real property taxes scheduled to be settled on or before the tenth day of August and the fifteenth day of February of a fiscal year under divisions (A) and (C) of section 321.24 of the Revised Code shall not be available for appropriation by a board of education prior to the fiscal year in which such latest scheduled settlement date occurs, except that moneys advanced to the treasurer of a board of education under division (A)(2)(b) of section 321.34 of the Revised Code shall be available for appropriation in the fiscal year in which they are paid to the treasurer under such section. If the date for any settlement of taxes is extended under division (E) of section 321.24 of the Revised Code, the latest date set forth in divisions (A) to (D) of that section shall be used to determine in which fiscal year the revenues are first available for appropriation.

Sec. 5705.36. (A)(1) On or about the first day of each fiscal year, the fiscal officer of each subdivision and other taxing unit shall certify to the county auditor the total amount from all sources available for expenditures from each fund set up in the tax budget or, if adoption of a tax budget was waived under section 5705.281 of the Revised Code, from each fund created by or on behalf of the taxing authority. The amount certified shall include any unencumbered balances that existed at the end of the preceding year, excluding any of the following:

(a) Subject to division ~~(F)~~(G) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code, any reserve balance in an account established under section 5705.13 of the Revised Code for the purpose described in division (A)(1) of that section;

(b) The principal of a nonexpendable trust fund established under section 5705.131 of the Revised Code and any additions to principal arising from sources other than the reinvestment of investment earnings arising from that fund;

A school district's certification shall separately show the amount of any notes and unpaid and outstanding expenses on the preceding thirtieth day of June that are to be paid from property taxes that are to be settled during the current fiscal year under divisions (C) and (D) of section 321.24 of the Revised Code. The budget commission, taking into consideration the balances and revenues to be derived from taxation and other sources, shall revise its estimate of the amounts that will be credited to each fund from such sources, and shall certify to the taxing authority of each subdivision an amended official certificate of estimated resources.

(2) Subject to divisions (A)(3) and (4) of this section, upon a determination by the fiscal officer of a subdivision that the revenue to be collected by the subdivision will be greater or less than the amount included in an official certificate, the fiscal officer may certify the amount of the deficiency or excess to the commission, and if the commission determines that the fiscal officer's certification is reasonable, the commission shall certify an amended official certificate reflecting the deficiency or excess.

(3) Upon a determination by the fiscal officer of a subdivision that the revenue to be collected by the subdivision will be greater than the amount included in an official certificate and the legislative authority intends to appropriate and expend the excess revenue, the fiscal officer shall certify the amount of the excess to the commission, and if the commission determines that the fiscal officer's certification is reasonable, the commission shall certify an amended official certificate reflecting the excess.

(4) Upon a determination by the fiscal officer of a subdivision that the revenue to be collected by the subdivision will be less than the amount included in an official certificate and that the amount of the deficiency will reduce available resources below the level of current appropriations, the fiscal officer shall certify the amount of the deficiency to the commission, and the commission shall certify an amended certificate reflecting the deficiency.

(5) The total appropriations made during the fiscal year from any fund shall not exceed the amount set forth as available for expenditure from such fund in the official certificate of estimated resources, or any amendment thereof, certified prior to the making of the appropriation or supplemental appropriation.

(B) At the time of settlement of taxes against which notes have been issued under division (D) of section 133.10 of the Revised Code and at the time a tax duplicate is delivered pursuant to section 319.28 or 319.29 of the Revised Code, the county auditor shall determine whether the total amount to be distributed to each school district from such settlement or duplicate, when combined with the amounts to be distributed from any subsequent settlement, will increase or decrease the amount available for appropriation during the current fiscal year from any fund. The county auditor shall certify this finding to the budget commission, which shall certify an amended official certificate reflecting the finding or certify to the school district that no amended certificate needs to be issued.

Sec. 5705.37. The taxing authority of any subdivision, or the board of trustees of any public library, nonprofit corporation, or library association maintaining a free public library that has adopted and certified rules under section 5705.28 of the Revised Code, that is dissatisfied with any action of the county budget commission may, through its fiscal officer, appeal to the board of tax appeals within thirty days after the receipt by the subdivision of the official certificate or notice of the commission's action. In like manner, but through its clerk, any park district may appeal to the board of tax appeals. An appeal under this section shall be taken by the filing of a notice of appeal, either in person or by certified mail, express mail, or authorized delivery service as provided in section 5703.056 of the Revised Code, with the board and with the commission. If notice of appeal is filed by certified mail, express mail, or authorized delivery service, date of the United States postmark placed on the sender's receipt by the postal service or the date of receipt recorded by the authorized delivery service shall be treated as the date of filing. Upon receipt of the notice of appeal, the commission, by certified mail, shall notify all persons who were parties to the proceeding before the commission of the filing of the notice of appeal and shall file proof of notice with the board of tax appeals. The secretary of the commission shall forthwith certify to the board a transcript of the full and accurate record of all proceedings before the commission, together with all evidence presented in the proceedings or considered by the commission, pertaining to the action from which the appeal is taken. The secretary of the commission also shall certify to the board any additional information that the board may request.

The board of tax appeals, in a de novo proceeding, shall forthwith consider the matter presented to the commission, and may modify any action of the commission with reference to the budget, the estimate of revenues and balances, the allocation of the public library fund, or the fixing of tax rates. ~~The~~ If the appeal is taken in response to the fixing of tax rates through a reduction made by the county budget commission, the burden of proof is on the appellant to show the need for a different rate or amount to meet expenses in the ensuing fiscal year and the board of tax appeals shall render its decision in the same calendar year the appeal is filed.

The finding of the board of tax appeals shall be substituted for the findings of the commission, and shall be sent to the tax commissioner, the county auditor, and the taxing authority of the subdivision affected, or to the board of public library trustees affected, as the action of the commission under sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the Revised Code. At the request of the taxing authority, board of trustees, or park district that appealed an action of the county budget commission under this section, the findings of the board of tax appeals shall be sent by certified mail at the requestor's expense.

This section does not give the board of tax appeals any authority to place any tax levy authorized by law within the ten-mill limitation outside of that limitation, or to reduce any levy below any minimum fixed by law.

Sec. 5747.51. (A) On or before the twenty-fifth day of July of each year, the tax commissioner shall make and certify to the county auditor of each county an estimate of the amount of the local government fund to be allocated to the undivided local government fund of each county for the ensuing calendar year, adjusting the total as required to account for subdivisions receiving local government funds under section 5747.502 of the Revised Code.

(B) At each annual regular session of the county budget commission convened pursuant to section 5705.27 of the Revised Code, each auditor shall present to the commission the certificate of the commissioner, the annual tax budget and estimates, and the records showing the action of the commission in its last preceding regular session. The commission, after extending to the representatives of each subdivision an opportunity to be heard, under oath administered by any member of the commission, and considering all the facts and information presented to it by the auditor, shall determine the amount of the undivided local government fund needed by and to be apportioned to each subdivision for current operating expenses, as shown in the tax budget of the subdivision. This determination shall be made pursuant to divisions (C) to (I) of this section, unless the commission has provided for a formula pursuant to section 5747.53 of the Revised Code. The commissioner shall reduce the amount of funds from the undivided local government fund to a subdivision required to receive reduced funds under section 5747.502 of the Revised Code.

Nothing in this section prevents the budget commission, for the purpose of apportioning the undivided local government fund, from inquiring into the claimed needs of any subdivision as stated in its tax budget, or from adjusting claimed needs to reflect actual needs. For the purposes of this section, "current operating expenses" means the lawful expenditures of a subdivision, except those for permanent improvements and except payments for interest, sinking fund, and retirement of bonds, notes, and certificates of indebtedness of the subdivision.

(C) The commission shall determine the combined total of the estimated expenditures, including transfers, from the general fund and any special funds other than special funds established for road and bridge; street construction, maintenance, and repair; state highway improvement; and gas, water, sewer, and electric public utilities operated by a subdivision, as shown in the subdivision's tax budget for the ensuing calendar year.

(D) From the combined total of expenditures calculated pursuant to division (C) of this section, the commission shall deduct the following expenditures, if included in these funds in the tax budget:

(1) Expenditures for permanent improvements as defined in division (E) of section 5705.01 of the Revised Code;

(2) In the case of counties and townships, transfers to the road and bridge fund, and in the case of municipalities, transfers to the street construction, maintenance, and repair fund and the state highway improvement fund;

(3) Expenditures for the payment of debt charges;

(4) Expenditures for the payment of judgments.

(E) In addition to the deductions made pursuant to division (D) of this section, revenues accruing to the general fund and any special fund considered under division (C) of this section from the following sources shall be deducted from the combined total of expenditures calculated pursuant to division (C) of this section:

(1) Taxes levied within the ten-mill limitation, as defined in section 5705.02 of the Revised Code;

(2) The budget commission allocation of estimated county public library fund revenues to be distributed pursuant to section 5747.48 of the Revised Code;

(3) Estimated unencumbered balances as shown on the tax budget as of the thirty-first day of December of the current year in the general fund, but not any estimated balance in any special fund considered in division (C) of this section;

(4) Revenue, including transfers, shown in the general fund and any special funds other than special funds established for road and bridge; street construction, maintenance, and repair; state highway improvement; and gas, water, sewer, and electric public utilities, from all other sources except those that a subdivision receives from an additional tax or service charge voted by its electorate or receives from special assessment or revenue bond collection. For the purposes of this division, where the charter of a municipal corporation prohibits the levy of an income tax, an income tax levied by the legislative authority of such municipal corporation pursuant to an amendment of the charter of that municipal corporation to authorize such a levy represents an additional tax voted by the electorate of that municipal corporation. For the purposes of this division, any measure adopted by a board of county commissioners pursuant to section 322.02, 4504.02, or 5739.021 of the Revised Code, including those measures upheld by the electorate in a referendum conducted pursuant to section 322.021, 4504.021, or 5739.022 of the Revised Code, shall not be considered an additional tax voted by the electorate.

Subject to division ~~(F)~~(G) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code, money in a reserve balance account established by a county, township, or municipal corporation under section 5705.13 of the Revised Code shall not be considered an unencumbered balance or revenue under division (E)(3) or (4) of this section. Money in a reserve balance account established by a township under section 5705.132 of the Revised Code shall not be considered an unencumbered balance or revenue under division (E)(3) or (4) of this section.

If a county, township, or municipal corporation has created and maintains a nonexpendable trust fund under section 5705.131 of the Revised Code, the principal of the fund, and any additions to the principal arising from sources other than the reinvestment of investment earnings arising from such a fund, shall not be considered an unencumbered balance or revenue under division (E)(3) or (4) of this section. Only investment earnings arising from investment of the principal or investment of such additions to principal may be considered an unencumbered balance or revenue under those divisions.

(F) The total expenditures calculated pursuant to division (C) of this section, less the deductions authorized in divisions (D) and (E) of this section, shall be known as the "relative need" of the subdivision, for the purposes of this section.

(G) The budget commission shall total the relative need of all participating subdivisions in the county, and shall compute a relative need factor by dividing the total estimate of the undivided local government fund by the total relative need of all participating subdivisions.

(H) The relative need of each subdivision shall be multiplied by the relative need factor to determine the proportionate share of the subdivision in the undivided local government fund of the county; provided, that the maximum proportionate share of a county shall not exceed the following maximum percentages of the total estimate of the undivided local government fund governed by the relationship of the percentage of the population of the county that resides within municipal corporations within the county to the total population of the county as reported in the reports on population in Ohio by the department of development as of the twentieth day of July of the year in which the tax budget is filed with the budget commission:

	1	2
A	Percentage of municipal population within the county:	Percentage share of the county shall not exceed:
B	Less than forty-one per cent	Sixty per cent
C	Forty-one per cent or more but less than eighty-one per cent	Fifty per cent
D	Eighty-one per cent or more	Thirty per cent

Where the proportionate share of the county exceeds the limitations established in this division, the budget commission shall adjust the proportionate shares determined pursuant to this division so that the proportionate share of the county does not exceed these limitations, and it shall increase the proportionate shares of all other subdivisions on a pro rata basis. In counties having a population of less than one hundred thousand, not less than ten per cent shall be distributed to the townships therein.

(I) The proportionate share of each subdivision in the undivided local government fund determined pursuant to division (H) of this section for any calendar year shall not be less than the product of the average of the percentages of the undivided local government fund of the county as apportioned to that subdivision for the calendar years 1968, 1969, and 1970, multiplied by the total amount of the undivided local government fund of the county apportioned pursuant to former section 5739.23 of the Revised Code for the calendar year 1970. For the purposes of this division, the total apportioned amount for the calendar year 1970 shall be the amount actually allocated to the county in 1970 from the state collected intangible tax as levied by section 5707.03 of the Revised Code and distributed pursuant to section 5725.24 of the Revised Code, plus the amount received by the county in the calendar year 1970 pursuant to division (B)(1) of former section 5739.21 of the Revised Code, and distributed pursuant to former section 5739.22 of the Revised Code. If the total amount of the undivided local government fund for any calendar year is less than the amount of the undivided local government fund apportioned pursuant to former section 5739.23 of the Revised Code for the calendar year 1970, the minimum amount guaranteed to each subdivision for that calendar year pursuant to this division shall be reduced on a basis proportionate to the amount by which the amount of the undivided local government fund for that calendar year is less than the amount of the undivided local government fund apportioned for the calendar year 1970.

(J) On the basis of such apportionment, the county auditor shall compute the percentage share of each such subdivision in the undivided local government fund and shall at the same time certify to the tax commissioner the percentage share of the county as a subdivision. No payment shall be made from the undivided local government fund, except in accordance with such percentage shares.

Within ten days after the budget commission has made its apportionment, whether conducted pursuant to section 5747.51 or 5747.53 of the Revised Code, the auditor shall publish a list of the subdivisions and the amount each is to receive from the undivided local government fund and the percentage share of each subdivision, in a newspaper or newspapers of countywide circulation, and send a copy of such allocation to the tax commissioner.

The county auditor shall also send a copy of such allocation by ordinary or electronic mail to the fiscal officer of each subdivision entitled to participate in the allocation of the undivided local government fund of the county. This copy shall constitute the official notice of the commission action referred to in section 5705.37 of the Revised Code.

All money received into the treasury of a subdivision from the undivided local government fund in a county treasury shall be paid into the general fund and used for the current operating expenses of the subdivision.

If a municipal corporation maintains a municipal university, such municipal university, when the board of trustees so requests the legislative authority of the municipal corporation, shall participate in the money apportioned to such municipal corporation from the total local government fund, however created and constituted, in such amount as requested by the board of trustees, provided such sum does not exceed nine per cent of the total amount paid to the municipal corporation.

If any public official fails to maintain the records required by sections 5747.50 to 5747.55 of the Revised Code or by the rules issued by the tax commissioner, the auditor of state, or the treasurer of state pursuant to such sections, or fails to comply with any law relating to the enforcement of such sections, the local government fund money allocated to the county may be withheld until such time as the public official has complied with such sections or such law or the rules issued pursuant thereto.

Sec. 5747.53. (A) ~~As used in this section:~~

(1) "City, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population" means the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population residing in the county; however, if the county budget commission on or before January 1, 1998, adopted an alternative method of apportionment that was approved by the legislative authority of the city, located partially in the county, with the greatest population but not the greatest population residing in the county, "city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population" means the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population whether residing in the county or not, if this alternative meaning is adopted by action of the board of county commissioners and a majority of the boards of township trustees and legislative authorities of municipal corporations located wholly or partially in the county.

~~(2) "Participating political subdivision" means a municipal corporation or township that satisfies all of the following:~~

~~(a) It is located wholly or partially in the county.~~

~~(b) It is not the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population.~~

~~(c) Undivided local government fund moneys are apportioned to it under the county's alternative method or formula of apportionment in the current calendar year.~~

~~(B)~~ In lieu of the method of apportionment of the undivided local government fund of the county provided by section 5747.51 of the Revised Code, the county budget commission may provide for the apportionment of the fund under an alternative method or on a formula basis as authorized by this section. The commissioner shall reduce the amount of funds from the undivided local government fund to a subdivision required to receive reduced funds under section 5747.502 of the Revised Code.

~~Except as otherwise provided in division (C) of this section, the~~ The alternative method of apportionment shall have first been approved by ~~all of the following governmental units:~~ the board of county commissioners~~; the legislative authority of the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population;~~ and a majority of the boards of township trustees and legislative authorities of municipal corporations, located wholly or partially in the county~~, excluding the legislative authority of the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population~~. In granting or denying approval for an alternative method of apportionment, the board of county commissioners, boards of township trustees, and legislative authorities of municipal corporations shall act by motion. A motion to approve shall be passed upon a majority vote of the members of a board of county commissioners, board of township trustees, or legislative authority of a municipal corporation, shall take effect immediately, and need not be published.

Any alternative method of apportionment adopted and approved under this division shall be reviewed by the county budget commission at a public hearing held at least once in ~~the year following the effective date of this amendment~~ 2024 and in every fifth year thereafter. The county budget commission shall provide reasonable advance notice of the hearing to all political subdivisions eligible to participate in the fund and shall take public testimony from any such political subdivision that wishes to testify.

Any alternative method of apportionment adopted and approved under this division may be revised, amended, or repealed in the same manner as it may be adopted and approved. If an alternative method of apportionment adopted and approved under this division is repealed, the undivided local government fund of the county shall be apportioned among the subdivisions eligible to participate in the fund, commencing in the ensuing calendar year, under the apportionment provided in section 5747.52 of the Revised Code, unless ~~the repeal occurs by operation of division (C) of this section or~~ a new method for apportionment of the fund is provided in the action of repeal.

~~(E)~~(C) The limitations set forth in section 5747.51 of the Revised Code, stating the maximum amount that the county may receive from the undivided local government fund and the minimum amount the townships in counties having a population of less than one hundred thousand may receive from the fund, are applicable to any alternative method of apportionment authorized under this section.

~~(F)~~(D) On the basis of any alternative method of apportionment adopted and approved as authorized by this section, as certified by the auditor to the county treasurer, the county treasurer shall make distribution of the money in the undivided local government fund to each subdivision eligible to participate in the fund, and the auditor, when the amount of those shares is in the custody of the treasurer in the amounts so computed to be due the respective subdivisions, shall at the same time certify to the tax commissioner the percentage share of the county as a subdivision. All money received into the treasury of a subdivision from the undivided local government fund in a county treasury shall be paid into the general fund and used for the current operating expenses of the subdivision. If a municipal corporation maintains a municipal university, the university, when the board of trustees so requests the legislative authority of the municipal corporation, shall participate in the money apportioned to the municipal corporation from the total local government fund, however created and constituted, in the amount requested by the board of trustees, provided that amount does not exceed nine per cent of the total amount paid to the municipal corporation.

~~(G)~~(E) The actions of the county budget commission taken pursuant to this section are final and may not be appealed to the board of tax appeals, except on the issues of abuse of discretion and failure to comply with the formula.

Section 2. That existing sections 3317.01, 5705.01, 5705.03, 5705.13, 5705.27, 5705.28, 5705.29, 5705.31, 5705.32, 5705.321, 5705.35, 5705.36, 5705.37, 5747.51, and 5747.53 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. Section 5747.53 of the Revised Code is presented in this act as a composite of the section as amended by H.B. 33 of the 135th General Assembly and H.B. 62 of the 133rd General Assembly. The General Assembly, applying the principle stated in division (B) of section 1.52 of the Revised Code that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation, finds that the composite is the resulting version of the section in effect prior to the effective date of the section as presented in this act.