Resident says volunteers collected signatures to put property-tax repeal on Ohio ballot

Resident and Commissioner Denise DiFavio told the Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 4 that volunteers collected signatures to place a ballot question to abolish Ohio's property taxes.

"My name is Denise DiFavio. I live in Poland Township," DiFavio said during public comment and said she and 24 volunteers collected signatures at the Canfield Fair. She said volunteers gathered approximately 5,005 signatures to qualify a measure to abolish Ohio's property taxes for the ballot.

DiFavio told commissioners the measure would eliminate charging interest on delinquent property taxes and foreclosures tied to tax delinquency. She invoked historical resistance to tax foreclosures and said that owning property is central to liberty.

Commissioners did not debate or act on the petition during the meeting. Public comment on a proposed statewide ballot measure does not itself change county tax policy; any statutory or ballot changes would result from state-level legislative or ballot processes, not from a county proclamation or vote.