Hamilton County officials warn House Bill 335 would slash local revenue, threaten public safety

Hamilton County officials briefed the Board of County Commissioners on the potential local impacts of Ohio House Bill 335 and urged opposition to the bill in its current form.

County Auditor Jessica Miranda told commissioners that while HB 335 is advertised as property tax relief, it “is large scale tax shifting,” would eliminate inside millage authority and produce a “massive loss of local funding” that could threaten public safety and local bond ratings.

The presentation and discussion focused on four irreversible impacts the auditor’s office says the bill would impose on Hamilton County: elimination of inside millage; a required county match for homestead credits; an inflation cap and credit mechanism tied to reappraisals; and changes to county budget commission processes. County staff and commissioners also described the state committee process for the bill as expedited and limited to invited testimony.

“The way it is written, it would have a devastating effect on our general budget,” Anson Turley, a county staff member, told the commission. Turley said removing inside millage would cause a roughly $64,000,000 revenue loss and create “a 16.1% hole in our budget,” noting that “the majority of our budget deals with public safety.”

Miranda provided statewide and county-level estimates she said were the best available from recent valuations: $3.5 billion in lost local tax revenue statewide; $271 million in losses across Hamilton County’s local political jurisdictions; and about $74 million in direct impact to the county budget, including $65.7 million to the county general operating fund (which Miranda said includes state homestead and rollback reimbursement) and $8.7 million to the county park district. Miranda said estimates vary from speaker to speaker and are best-effort calculations using current valuations.

Miranda and Turley warned of downstream effects if replacement revenue is not provided. House Bill 335 would remove inside millage authority and allow counties to seek replacement revenue via a local sales tax ballot measure; Miranda said even if a sales tax were approved, replacement revenue would not be realized until July 2026 under the bill’s timetable, producing a potential $33,000,000 shortfall in the interim. Turley added that a sustained revenue loss could harm the county’s creditworthiness and raise borrowing costs.

Miranda summarized other predicted consequences: freezing hiring, cutting services, postponing infrastructure projects, and potential mass layoffs of police officers, firefighters and other county employees. She said the bill would defund eight police pensions and two fire pensions across the county in the county’s estimate and that, on a per-resident basis, the bill’s relief would amount to an estimated $20–$30 per month.

Miranda also flagged process and timing problems in the bill. She said the bill sets deadlines the county cannot meet given the county valuation and rate-setting calendar: Hamilton County receives certified valuations from the Ohio Department of Taxation in November or December for more than 350,000 parcels, and an October deadline in HB 335 would be impractical. She warned the bill’s single-year adjustments and changes to the billing process could leave homeowners who pay taxes through mortgage escrow unaware of rate changes.

Several commissioners voiced alarm. Commissioner Denise Treehouse said the county must “maintain our core critical services” and that raising a sales tax to replace lost inside millage revenue is “easier said than done.” Commissioner Summer O'Dimmis said, “This is not property tax relief,” and called the bill a threat to county autonomy.

Commissioners and countywides also said they had submitted written opponent testimony. Commissioner Denise Treehouse and others said the commission had sent a letter to state lawmakers as opponent testimony; Miranda said the County Auditors Association’s four pillars for property-tax reform are not reflected in HB 335.

Several statewide associations appeared on the record in opposition, according to speakers at the meeting: the County Auditors Association of Ohio, County Commissioners Association of Ohio, Buckeye State Sheriffs Association, Association of Chiefs of Police, Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, Ohio Municipal League, Ohio Mayor’s Alliance, Ohio Job and Family Services Directors Association, Public Children’s Services Association of Ohio, and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators. Miranda said a press conference in Columbus was taking place concurrently with opposition groups present.

The commission’s discussion closed with a procedural motion to move into two executive sessions to discuss the sale or acquisition of property pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22(g)(2); the motion was moved and seconded on the record, but the vote was not recorded in the provided transcript.

The presenters and commissioners stressed that HB 335, as drafted, would shift significant responsibility and cost to local jurisdictions without a permanent statewide backfill and urged county and state leaders to pursue alternatives that preserve local fiscal stability.