As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session S. B. No. 239

2025-2026

To amend sections 742.16, 742.33, 742.34, 5705.06, and 5705.31 and to repeal section 742.311 of the Revised Code regarding contributions to the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund.

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

Section 1. That sections 742.16, 742.33, 742.34, 5705.06, and 5705.31 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 742.16. The board of trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund shall establish a period of not more than thirty years to amortize the Ohio police and fire pension fund's unfunded actuarial accrued pension liabilities. The board shall adopt a plan that specifies how it proposes to meet the thirty-year amortization period not later than December 31, 2006. If the period necessary to amortize the unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability exceeds thirty years, as determined by the actuarial valuation required by section 742.14 of the Revised Code, the board, not later than ninety days after receipt of the valuation, shall prepare and submit to the Ohio retirement study council and the standing committees of the house of representatives and the senate with primary responsibility for retirement legislation a report that includes the following information:

~~(A) The number of years needed to amortize the unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability as determined by the actuarial valuation;~~

~~(B) A plan approved by the board that indicates how the board will reduce the amortization period of unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability to not more than thirty years;~~

~~(C) Whether the board has made any progress in meeting the thirty-year amortization period.~~

Sec. 742.33. (A) Each employer shall pay monthly, on such dates as the board of trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund requires, from its general fund, or from a levy imposed pursuant to division (J), (W), or (JJ) of section 5705.19 of the Revised Code, to the fund an amount known as the "police officer employers' contribution,." ~~which shall be nineteen and one-half~~ Subject to the adjustment required under division (B) of this section, the police officer employers' contribution is a certain per cent of the salaries as defined in division (L) of section 742.01 of the Revised Code of the members of the police department of the employer as follows:

(1) For salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning before the first day of July that first occurs after the effective date of this amendment, the contribution is nineteen and one-half per cent.

(2) For salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning on the first day of July that first occurs after the effective date of this amendment, and on each subsequent first day of July that occurs thereafter through the first day of July that occurs for the fourth time after that date, the contribution amount described under division (A)(1) of this section shall be increased by one per cent until it equals twenty-three and one-half per cent.

(3) For salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning on the first day of July that occurs for the fifth time after the effective date of this amendment, the contribution is twenty-four per cent.

(B) If the period necessary to amortize the Ohio police and fire pension fund's unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability exceeds thirty years, as determined by an actuarial valuation that is completed subsequent to the first day of July described under division (A)(3) of this section, the board shall adjust the police officer employers' contribution to a rate determined by the board's actuary. The board may adjust the rate over a period not to exceed three years occurring immediately after the date on which the actuarial valuation is completed. In adjusting the rate, the board shall not do any of the following:

(1) Adjust the rate unless it is adjusted to the same rate to which the firefighter employers' contribution is adjusted under division (B) of section 742.34 of the Revised Code;

(2) Adjust the rate by more than one and one-half per cent over the three-year period occurring immediately after the date on which the actuarial valuation is completed;

(3) During the three-year period described under division (B)(2) of this section, implement the adjustment by more than one-half per cent over any one-year period.

(C) If the board adjusts the police officer employers' contribution under division (B) of this section based on an actuarial valuation described under that division, the initial adjustment is effective for salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning not earlier than the first day of July that occurs after the date on which the actuarial valuation is completed. Any subsequent adjustment that the board implements as described under division (B)(3) of this section is effective for salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning not earlier than each first day of July that occurs thereafter.

(D) The taxing authority of each municipal corporation in which there was a police relief and pension fund on October 1, 1965, shall annually, in the manner provided for making other municipal levies and in addition to all other levies authorized by law, levy a tax of three-tenths of one mill upon all the real and personal property as listed for taxation in the municipal corporation for the purpose of paying the police officer employers' contribution and the municipal corporation's accrued liability for its former police relief and pension fund and interest thereon, and of defraying the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation. The annual revenues derived from the tax shall be used in the following order:

(1) First, to pay the current police officer employers' contribution and any interest related thereto;

(2) Second, to pay any accrued liability chargeable to the municipal corporation during the current calendar year for its former police relief and pension fund and any interest related thereto;

(3) Third, to defray the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation.

Sec. 742.34. (A) Each employer shall pay monthly, on such dates as the board of trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund requires, from its general fund, or from a levy imposed pursuant to division (I), (W), or (JJ) of section 5705.19 of the Revised Code, to the fund an amount known as the "firefighter employers' contribution," which, subject to the adjustment required under division (B) of this section, shall be twenty-four per cent of the salaries as defined in division (L) of section 742.01 of the Revised Code of the members of the fire department of the employer.

(B) If the period necessary to amortize the Ohio police and fire pension fund's unfunded actuarial accrued pension liability exceeds thirty years, as determined by an actuarial valuation that is completed subsequent to the first day of July as described under division (A)(3) of section 742.33 of the Revised Code, the board shall adjust the firefighter employers' contribution to a rate determined by the board's actuary. The board may adjust the rate over a period not to exceed three years occurring immediately after the date on which the actuarial valuation is completed. In adjusting the rate, the board shall not do any of the following:

(1) Adjust the rate unless it is adjusted to the same rate to which the police officer employers' contribution is adjusted under division (B) of section 742.33 of the Revised Code;

(2) Adjust the rate by more than one and one-half per cent over the three-year period occurring immediately after the date on which the actuarial valuation is completed;

(3) During the three-year period described under division (B)(2) of this section, implement the adjustment by more than one-half per cent over any one-year period.

(C) If the board adjusts the firefighter employers' contribution under division (B) of this section based on the actuarial valuation described under that division, the initial adjustment is effective for salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning not earlier than the first day of July that occurs after the date on which the actuarial valuation is completed. Any subsequent adjustment that the board implements as described under division (B)(3) of this section is effective for salaries earned by the members in pay periods beginning not earlier than each first day of July that occurs thereafter.

(D) The taxing authority of each municipal corporation in which there was a firemen's relief and pension fund on October 1, 1965, shall annually, in the manner provided for making other municipal levies and in addition to all other levies authorized by law, levy a tax of three-tenths of one mill upon all the real and personal property as listed for taxation in the municipal corporation for the purpose of paying the firefighter employers' contribution and the municipal corporation's accrued liability for its former firemen's relief and pension fund and interest thereon, and of defraying the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation. The annual revenues derived from the tax shall be used in the following order:

(1) First, to pay the current firefighter employers' contribution and any interest related thereto;

(2) Second, to pay any accrued liability chargeable to the municipal corporation during the current calendar year for its former firemen's relief and pension fund and any interest related thereto;

(3) Third, to defray the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation.

Sec. 5705.06. The following special levies are hereby authorized without vote of the people:

(A) A levy for any specific permanent improvement which the subdivision is authorized by law to acquire, construct, or improve, or any class of such improvements which could be included in a single bond issue;

(B) A levy for the library purposes of the subdivision, in accordance with the provisions of the Revised Code authorizing levies for such purposes, but only to the extent so authorized;

(C) In the case of a municipal corporation, a levy for a municipal university under section 3349.13 of the Revised Code, but only to the extent authorized;

(D) In the case of a county, a levy for the construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, and repair of roads and bridges, other than state roads and bridges;

(E) In the case of a county, a levy for paying the county's proportion of the cost of the construction, improvement, and maintenance of state highways;

(F) In the case of a township, a levy for the construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, and repair of roads and bridges, excluding state roads and bridges, including the township's portion of the cost of the construction, improvement, maintenance, and repair of county roads and bridges;

(G) The levies prescribed by division ~~(B)~~(D) of sections 742.33 and 742.34 of the Revised Code.

Each such special levy shall be within the ten-mill limitation and shall be subject to the control of the county budget commission, as provided by sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the Revised Code.

Except for the special levies authorized in divisions (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), and (G) of this section, any authority granted by the Revised Code to levy a special tax within the ten-mill limitation for a current expense shall be construed as authority to provide for such expense by the general levy for current expenses.

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 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.

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;

(B) All levies for debt charges not provided for by levies in excess of the ten-mill limitation, including levies 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 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) 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.

Section 2. That existing sections 742.16, 742.33, 742.34, 5705.06, and 5705.31 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. That section 742.311 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.