In a July 24, 2025, editorial, Crain’s Cleveland Business wrote that the Property Tax Reform Working Group would: 

“[D]o well to take seriously a list of recommendations from The Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank, that includes giving county budget commissions ‘the authority to lower the tax rate when more property taxes than are necessary are collected from homeowners;’ incentivizing and linking state funding to ‘specific performance metrics and efficiency improvements to reduce local government expenses while maintaining or enhancing service quality;’ and eliminating tax abatements ‘that shift property tax burdens onto families and small businesses.’

“The group’s effort is critical to head off what would be, in our view, a disastrous decision to abolish property taxes, should that amendment make it to the ballot.”

Read the full editorial below.

Tackling Ohio’s property tax conundrum

Crain’s Cleveland Business 
Editorial Board
July 24, 2025

Gov. Mike DeWine has put together what he calls the Property Tax Reform Working Group, a straightforward name for an effort with the expansive agenda of “thoroughly examining issues related to how to provide meaningful property tax relief to homeowners and businesses while ensuring that funding for local schools, fire, police, EMS, libraries, and developmental disabilities is adequate.”

Oh, that’s all?

The 11-person group, which meets for the first time on Thursday, July 24, will need to work fast.

It launches just after Ohio House Republicans on Monday, July 21, voted to override DeWine’s veto of a provision in the new state budget that restricts the kinds of local tax levies that can be presented to voters. (The Senate still needs to reconvene to take that up.) Also on the Legislature’s to-do list are two more potential veto overrides, which, the Ohio Capital Journal reported, “have to do with a provision giving county budget commissions increased control over levy amounts, and how to calculate a school district’s minimum millage, known as the 20-mill floor.”

The first override, and the threat of others, comes against the potential backdrop of a bigger and more draconian step: a citizen-led constitutional amendment aiming to abolish property taxes completely.

There was immediate speculation, as soon as DeWine’s signature formalized that budget, that some of the property tax measures in it were heading for overrides. In anticipation of the challenge, the Property Tax Reform Working Group was informally announced during DeWine’s signing of the budget, House Bill 96, and his associated line-item vetoes.

Ohio, like a lot of states, is experiencing increased property taxes as a result of factors that include rising property values and changes in local levies. The state constitution limits the total property tax levy, but local governments still can raise taxes through new levies or adjustments to existing ones.

Property taxes across all Ohio counties could increase by as much as 25% over the next few years, Matt Nolan, president of the County Auditors’ Association of Ohio, has warned. (Nolan is also a member of the Property Tax Reform Working Group.) That pace of increase places a burden on homeowners and businesses still struggling to contend with inflation in many corners of the economy.

There’s clamor for action.

Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, called the House’s veto override “an important first step toward property tax relief by removing confusing and misleading levies from future ballots.” He urged the Senate to “finalize this override” but noted, “We can’t stop here. Property taxes are massively increasing for too many Ohioans — individuals and businesses alike — and meaningful relief is urgently needed.”

We agree on the need for meaningful relief, but that’s not going to come from the Legislature’s piecemeal approach of veto overrides, which address narrow concerns but offer no systematic or lasting solutions.

DeWine has asked the Property Tax Reform Working Group to issue a report “with concrete proposals” by Sept. 30. The members have a busy two months ahead.

They would do well to take seriously a list of recommendations from The Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank, that includes giving county budget commissions “the authority to lower the tax rate when more property taxes than are necessary are collected from homeowners;” incentivizing and linking state funding to “specific performance metrics and efficiency improvements to reduce local government expenses while maintaining or enhancing service quality;” and eliminating tax abatements “that shift property tax burdens onto families and small businesses.”

The group’s effort is critical to head off what would be, in our view, a disastrous decision to abolish property taxes, should that amendment make it to the ballot.

Property taxes generate $20 billion-plus in annual revenue across Ohio to pay for basic services: police and fire departments, schools, parks and all the other things that support our quality of life.

Frustration over rising property taxes is understandable, and reform is possible. But there’s no easy alternative to funding the necessary elements of what the government does. Ohio has already cut income taxes to a flat 2.75%. The likeliest option would be a massive increase in the sales tax, which would place a bigger burden on lower-income Ohioans and wouldn’t be popular with anyone, either.

We don’t envy the task ahead of the working group, which has to come up with answers, quickly, in a political environment where skepticism rules. Their work is critical, though, to maintaining Ohio’s economic momentum and setting it up for better times ahead.