Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law five property tax bills that will save homeowners more than $3 billion over the next three years, change how millage is counted for school districts and permit county budget commissions to control levy amounts.

DeWine, a Republican, signed off Friday on the bills, including four that were initially included in the budget bill approved in June by the GOP-controlled state Legislature and subsequently vetoed by the governor. Changes were made after DeWine convened a property tax working group, but the bills he signed Friday are substantively what he opposed in July 1 vetoes.

The Legislature and the working group wanted to “fairly achieve property tax relief and at the same time protect our schools, our police, our fire and our essential services,” DeWine said Friday.

DeWine called it a “difficult task” to “carefully balance these really important goals,” but it was achieved.

The Senate approved four of the five bills during a Nov. 19 session. The House had approved two of the bills Oct. 8 and two others on Oct. 22. The House had to amend one bill after the Senate changed language Nov. 19.

A fifth property tax bill was approved Nov. 12 by the state Senate after getting Ohio House approval on June 4.

State Rep. David Thomas, R-Jefferson, who represents portions of Trumbull County, was the sponsor of all five bills. He joined DeWine at Friday’s bill signing ceremony.

“These five bills will impact every Ohioan now and into the future,” Thomas said after the signing. “We are for the first time saying no to unvoted property tax spikes and yes to more voter control and transparency.”

Thomas added: “There is still much more work to go, but we have made the strongest push possible with these reforms in just 12 months.”

The Senate amendment shifts about $800 million over three years in tax credits to homeowners.

Homeowners get a 2.5% owner-occupancy tax credit on levies passed on or before 2013 and are renewed and a 10% non-business credit on those same levies.

Over the next four years, the non-business credit will be eliminated — lowered annually for three years and then terminated except for agricultural land — while the owner-occupancy tax credit will increase and eventually hit 15.38% in the fourth year, Thomas said. That is more than the combined 12.5% credit given now.

Once the credit is fully implemented, homeowners will save $400 million in property taxes annually, Thomas said.

The savings for homeowners, Thomas said, comes from companies owning rental properties, which will lose all of the tax credits.

The owner-occupancy amendment was to a bill that caps how much money school districts can collect to the rate of inflation, which is about 3%.

“No longer will families see dramatic spikes in their real estate taxes,” DeWine said. “Except when new levies are passed, families will experience increases in property taxes that will be limited to the cost of living.”

The average property value in Mahoning County increased by 38% in the last revaluation in 2023 and by 35% in Trumbull County.

In addition to the increased owner-occupancy percentage, House Bill 186 will save Ohio property owners about $1.7 billion over the next three years by establishing a new cap tax credit that prevents increases in school districts from exceeding the rate of inflation.

The bill limits unvoted property taxes collected by school districts, known as the 20-mill floor. It starts with the second half of the 2026 tax bills.

Every school district in the state is guaranteed to receive 20 mills. Close to 500 of the state’s 611 school districts have an effective rate that is below the guaranteed 20-mill floor, but 20 mills are still applied to the district’s value, Thomas said.

The 20-mill floor is a main reason for the large increases in unvoted property taxes over the past few years, Thomas said, as values increased.

The average homeowner will save about $128 next year in property taxes, but those living in urban and larger school districts at or above the 20-mill floor won’t see a reduction.

That includes Youngstown. Also, those in school districts close to the 20-mill floor will see only small decreases in property taxes under this bill. That includes those in Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Struthers, Warren, Girard and Brookfield school districts.

Those living in Poland, Campbell, Jackson-Milton, Lakeview, Howland and McDonald school districts will see the largest savings in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

The state will provide $306 million to school districts as a one-time payment in the first year and $105 million in the second year to help offset the change.

The funding will come from a planned expansion of the summer sales tax holiday, DeWine said.

DeWine signed a Thomas-sponsored bill that provides similar caps to inflation on inside millage collected by local governments. Counties can collect up to 10 mills of inside millage without a vote.

The bill, H.B. 335, will save property tax owners between $621 million and $763 million over the next three years.

The two other Thomas-sponsored bills approved Nov. 19 by the Senate were backed Oct. 8 by the House.

H.B. 309 gives county budget commissions – made up of the county auditor, treasurer and prosecutor – control over tax rates and levies.

The commission would be permitted to unilaterally cut property tax rates if revenues exceed expenditures, even if voters approved ballot initiatives for that funding.

The other bill, H.B. 129, requires school districts to include emergency and substitute levies in their 20-mill floor, which guarantees they receive at least 20 mills of funding even if they are below that amount.

This would put 237 of the state’s 611 school districts off the floor, Thomas said.

DeWine said: “There will be more clarity. More clarity as to what the levies will do and more clarity as to what impact they will have on property owners.”

The fifth property bill changes the process of property valuations and puts it in local hands.

Called the Flip the Script Act, H.B. 124 puts county auditors in charge of the sales used to determine valuation changes, which happens every three years, and alters the burden to challenge sales to the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Asked about an effort to get a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot to eliminate property taxes, DeWine said Friday: “It would be a great mistake to completely do away with real estate taxes, with property taxes. We all would love to just say, ‘We have no taxes,’ but we have to provide for our schools; we have to provide for fire, EMS, police and children’s services and many other things. These services that we fund at the local level wouldn’t be able to be funded and the state would be in chaos” if the proposal passes.

The alternative, DeWine said, would be a “very, very significant increase in sales tax. An increase that would be so unprecedented that it would be more than any other state in the union.”