Medina County commissioners weigh doubling homestead exemption, inside-millage rollback to target tax relief

The Medina County Board of Commissioners discussed options to provide countywide property tax relief, focusing on a proposed doubling of the state piggyback homestead exemption and a possible rollback of the county's inside millage to offset impacts on other local taxing entities.

Commissioner Sweatick opened a wide-ranging discussion about options after public comment from Melissa Clifford, a Litchfield resident who asked county officials to scrutinize unvoted school district surpluses. "While voters were distracted with the concerted effort to impose a 35 bond levy to expand Buckeye Schools, we were also paying record property tax bills," Clifford told the commissioners, saying the Buckeye Local School District transferred about $32,000,000 from its general operating fund to a new capital projects fund after a bond measure failed.

The discussion centered on two tools available under current state law: the county's ability to adopt a piggyback homestead exemption (which reduces taxable value for qualifying owner-occupants and disabled veterans) and the ability to reduce the county's inside millage. Commissioners repeatedly framed the measures as temporary, one-year steps while urging the state legislature to pursue longer-term reform.