Property tax changes: What Delaware County homeowners need to know

DELAWARE — Property tax bills have jumped for many Ohio homeowners in recent years, and state lawmakers are already making changes aimed at limiting how fast they can grow.

With a growing movement to eliminate property taxes entirely, Delaware County Auditor George Kaitsa said there are four recently-passed Ohio House bills that will help lessen the property tax burden on Ohioans.

He also warned that the abolition of property taxes would create significant revenue shortfalls for school districts, local agencies and townships.

In a recent presentation during Delaware’s State of the County event, Kaitsa outlined what those impacts could look like locally:

• Delaware County school districts would lose a combined $475.1 million in funding
• Local agencies, including Preservation Parks and the Delaware County District Library, would lose about $67.3 million
• Townships across the county would lose about $86 million

“It is important to understand not only the impact that this would have on the services we use each day, but also the reform efforts already underway,” a graphic from the auditor’s office states.

Which bills are reforming property taxes, and what do these reforms mean for residents? Let’s dive into the biggest changes.

Changing rules behind rising school taxes

One of the most significant changes comes from House Bill 186, which addresses the “20-mill floor” — a state rule that guarantees school districts a minimum level of funding through property taxes.

In simple terms, if property values in a district fall too low, tax rates can be adjusted to ensure schools still receive that minimum amount — even if voters didn’t approve a new levy.

Much of the recent increase in property taxes stems from the 2023 reappraisal, when home values rose sharply across Delaware County and much of Ohio.

In some cases, that triggered the “20-mill floor” — when property values rose, some districts collected significantly more in taxes to meet that threshold, even without a new levy on the ballot.

Kaitsa said this provision was a major driver of recent tax increases.

In Delaware County alone, that resulted in about $20 million in additional, unvoted property taxes, he said.

House Bill 186 addresses the “20-mill floor” — now, those increases are capped at the rate of inflation, rather than rising with property values.

Kaitsa said that change, combined with existing tax reduction factors, should prevent similar spikes in the future.

The law also includes an inflation cap credit, which will return some of those increases to property owners.

Kaitsa estimated that credit could be around $100 per $100,000 of market value, though final figures will come from the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Fixing how school taxes are calculated

Another update through House Bill 129 changes how levies are counted when determining whether a district falls below the 20-mill floor.

“What that meant was that there were more school districts at the 20-mill threshold because of the undercounting of those levies,” Kaitsa said.

The new law requires all current expense levies, including emergency and substitute levies, to be counted. As a result, fewer districts are expected to fall below the threshold in future reappraisals.

“Delaware City and Big Walnut schools have both emergency and substitute levies, so in all likelihood, those two districts will not be at the 20-mill floor in this next reappraisal cycle.”

Buckeye Valley schools, which don’t have emergency or substitute levies, will likely be at the 20-mill floor and thus be limited to the rate of inflation increases.

When some levies collect extra money

As property values have risen, some levies have generated “unnecessary or excessive” carryover balances — meaning agencies collected more money than needed for a given period.

Previously, county budget commissions collected voter-approved levies in full without adjusting for those balances.

Kaitsa explained that once House Bill 309 went into effect in March, it allowed those commissions to reduce how much a levy collects before it expires if the balance becomes excessive.

In simple terms, that means local governments may not automatically collect more tax revenue than they reasonably need.

He noted this is something Delaware County already practices.

“In my tenure as county auditor, I’ve done that with one levy agency,” he said.

“I had a discussion with that levy agency and indicated they were up to 100% in terms of a carryover balance … the board acted to reduce that collection rate for that year to bring that carryover balance to a more reasonable level.”

Kaitsa said if a levy’s carryover balance is at 75 percent, that does not fall into the unnecessary or excessive category. In some cases, agencies may need reserves for future expenses, and those decisions are reviewed case by case.

“There are circumstances that can justify a higher carryover balance,” Kaitsa said. “As a budget commission, we have the responsibility to discuss with the jurisdiction.”

Confusing replacement levies are going away

Another change through House Bill 96, which went into effect on June 30, 2025, eliminates replacement levies.

Kaitsa said voters confused replacement levies with renewal levies, prompting the bill.

“There’s a significant difference,” he said.

A renewal levy continues collecting at the current rate. A replacement levy, however, resets the rate back to what voters originally approved.

For example:

• A levy originally passed at 20 mills may decrease over time to 14 or 15 mills due to state tax reduction factors
• A renewal levy keeps it at 14 or 15 mills
• A replacement levy would reset it back to 20 mills

With replacement levies gone, voters are less likely to see unexpected increases tied to those resets.

Unvoted taxes now capped at inflation

A similar change through House Bill 335 applies to inside millage, a portion of property taxes that can be collected without voter approval.

Similar to school districts’ levies, this bill capped the increase of inside millage to the rate of inflation, rather than a dollar-for-dollar increase.

Historically, inside millage increased at the same rate as property values, which led to sharp jumps in tax bills after reappraisals.

“[Inside millage] went back to 1933. The legislature then decided that local jurisdictions could get up to 10 mills of property taxes without the vote of the people, anything over that required a vote,” Kaitsa said.

“So, that inside millage has also worked like whatever the percentage increase in property values was, the same percentage increase in revenues generated by inside millage was a dollar-for-dollar increase.”

That dollar-for-dollar increase in inside millage property taxes is no more, Kaitsa said.

What this means for your tax bill

While the details are technical, the goal of these bills is straightforward: make property tax increases more predictable.

Taken together, the changes do not eliminate property taxes, but they do change how they grow. The reforms are expected to take effect over the next several years, with some changes beginning in 2026.

For homeowners, it means future increases tied to existing levies should be more predictable and tied to inflation — rather than large jumps tied to rising property values.

Property taxes can still increase, however, if voters approve new levies.

At the same time, proposals to eliminate property taxes entirely remain under discussion, raising broader questions about how local governments would replace a major source of funding.

For now, the reforms already in place are intended to strike a balance — providing relief to taxpayers while maintaining the services those taxes support.