Navigating School District Levy Options Going Forward

by Rebecca Princehorn, Catherine Swartz | Bricker Graydon LLP

Bricker Graydon LLP

Amended Substitute H.B. 96 (“H.B. 96”), the State’s biennial budget bill, contained provisions limiting a variety of school district levy options after January 1, 2026. The Governor of the State vetoed many of these provisions through veto #66 to H.B. 96, but that veto has been overridden by the General Assembly. Beginning with the May 5, 2026 election, H.B. 96 significantly impacts school districts’ levy options.

The following chart outlines how H.B. 96 impacted school district levy options:

School District Voted Levy Options
LEVY TYPE	PERMITTED	ELIMINATED
Traditional (Millage Based) Property Taxes	New current expense levies if the school district’s carryover is not 100% or more of prior General Fund expenditures	New current expense levies if the school district’s carryover is 100% or more of prior General Fund expenditures
	New levies for permanent improvements and other permitted purposes (other than current expenses)	Renewal with an increase levies
	Renewal with a decrease levies	All replacement, replacement with an increase and replacement with a decrease levies
Traditional Emergency (Fixed Sum) Property Taxes	None	All new and renewal levies
Substitute (Emergency) Property Taxes	None	All new and substitute (renewal) levies
Incremental (Millage) Property Taxes	New and renewal current expense levies if the school district’s carryover is less than 100% of prior General Fund expenditures	New current expense levies if the school district’s carryover is 100% or more of prior General Fund expenditures
Incremental (Millage) Property Taxes		Renewal with an increase and replacement levies
Combined Current Expense and Permanent Improvement Property Taxes	New and renewal levies (carryover balance not addressed)	Replacement levies
Combined Income Tax and Fixed Sum Property Taxes	None	New and renewal levies
Income Taxes	New and renewal levies on traditional base (without estates) or earned income base	Collection of income tax on estates for new and existing traditional base levies

Notices of Election for Current Expense Levies

Notices of election for all voted current expense levies will include the percentage and amount of the school district’s General Fund carry-over balance, and “appraised value” will be changed to “market value.”

Bond Issues

H.B. 96 does not affect bond issue options, including stand-alone ballot questions, a bond issue combined with an operating or permanent improvement levy or combined with an income tax.

Other Vetoes

H.B. 96 also included a number of other property tax related measures that were also vetoed by the Governor (see the following link for more detail in the Governor’s veto message: http://www.legislature.ohio.gov/assets/legislation/legislation-documents/136/VetoMessageAmSubHB96.pdf). It is unknown whether the General Assembly will vote to override any of those other vetoes.

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