April 3, 2023
Re: House Bill 66 (134th General Assembly)
Community School and Other Notable Tax Exemptions
Governor DeWine recently signed House Bill (H.B.) 66 into law, making some notable changes to property tax exemption application processes and tax abatements, effective April 3, 2023. This article highlights the changes that may impact Ohio property owners.
H.B. 66 reduces the administrative and financial burden of applying for a property tax exemption for operators of community schools. Prior to 2019, community school tax exemptions had to be renewed with the Tax Commissioner each year. In 2019, H.B. 166 eased this burden somewhat to just requiring community schools to submit an annual statement attesting that the property continued to qualify for exemption. H.B. 66 removes the annual certification requirement entirely. Now, community schools only have to apply for an exemption and the school will continue receiving the exemption without needing to file anything additional in the following years. This places community schools in line with public school districts in terms of filing requirements.
H.B. 66 also shows how property owners who are well-connected politically can benefit from custom-crafted provisions. The bill creates some interesting temporary procedures for tax exemptions that are typically not allowable. Generally, an owner can only receive an exemption if the property is used for an exempt purpose on the tax lien date (January 1st of every year). H.B. 66 allows school districts that acquired property in February 2021 to apply for an exemption for the entire 2021 tax year, even though the property was not eligible for an exemption on the tax lien date (since it wasn’t yet owned by the school district). Only the specific school district that lobbied for this legislative change will benefit.
Property owners affected by these changes will likely benefit from consulting with experts in Ohio property tax law. If you have questions about how H.B. 66 may impact you or your business, please feel free to call the professionals at Bluestone Law Group.
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