COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Senate Republicans have joined the House in overriding one of Gov. Mike DeWine's school-related vetoes, which restricts the types of levies that can be put on the ballot.
After 90 days, school districts will no longer be able to put emergency or substitute levies on the ballot or request an increase to a current levy. Levies on the ballot this fall will not be impacted by the law.
In the two-year state operating budget, DeWine vetoed restrictions on the ability to put emergency levies on the ballot or request an increase to a current levy. That provision eliminated levy replacements on property taxes for all political subdivisions.
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On Wednesday, senators voted 21-11 to pass the override. Republican state Sens. Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Township) and Tom Patton (R-Strongsville) joined the Democrats in voting no.
"We eliminated, on a going-forward basis, a number of potential levies that would result in tax increases after reevaluations," Senate President Rob McColley said.
McColley said the override is important to provide the first step in much-needed property tax relief for homeowners, while Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said this could cause massive cuts for schools.
"More struggles for the schools, less funds coming to the schools and now with this override hat we passed, it also means that there's less ability of the locals to have control," Antonio said.
The schools would now have to "beg" the legislature for a bailout if their roof collapses, the minority leader continued.
DeWine, while vetoing, created a property tax working group to evaluate each of the Republicans' proposals to decrease taxes. House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said that the group's new recommendations could encourage more movement from the lawmakers.
"What I understand is that the report largely supports the veto overrides," Huffman said.
The working group came out with 20 ideas to reduce homeowners’ burdens, which include allowing counties to take money away from schools and changing state spending calculations — two of DeWine’s other school-related vetoes.
"Most of the report was more of the same gimmicks that will not actually lead to cash in people's pockets and don't solve the underlying problem," House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn said.
Some Democrats said that the full report is worth reading through before making decisions.
"I was glad they finally took some of our best ideas for what to do about this: the circuit breaker or the homestead exemption that would provide real relief using state resources," Isaacsohn said.
I brought up the report to McColley and asked if he would take up any of their ideas.
"There are a number of things on there that we would probably look into; some of the ideas are already ideas that have been introduced in one chamber or the other," he responded. "But I don't believe all of the recommendations that they put forward are going to actually fix the problem or deliver the extent of the reform we needed, particularly with the backdrop of this constitutional ballot initiative that's impending potentially for next November."
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Each Republican leader says more overrides are likely coming soon.
