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Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 5705.31 (2026)

Approval of levies by budget commission - minimum levy

✓ laws through the 2026 session (checked Sept. 2026)
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Effective:
March 20, 2026
Latest Legislation:
House Bill 309 (GA 136), House Bill 335 (GA 136)
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The county auditor shall present to the county budget commission the annual tax budgets submitted under sections 5705.01 to 5705.47 of the Revised Code, together with an estimate prepared by the auditor of the amount of any state levy, the rate of any school tax levy as previously determined, the tax commissioner's estimate of the amount to be received in the county public library fund, the tax rates provided under section 5705.281 of the Revised Code if adoption of the tax budget was waived under that section, and such other information as the commission requests or the tax commissioner prescribes.

The budget commission shall examine such budget and, if the taxing authority is a board of education that has elected to include projections pursuant to division (E) of section 5705.391 of the Revised Code, shall examine such projections. Using the budget and, if applicable, included projections, the budget commission shall ascertain the total amount proposed to be raised in the county for the purposes of each subdivision and other taxing units in the county and the need for those amounts. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the county budget commission may reduce the amount to be raised by any levy pursuant to section 5705.32 of the Revised Code.

The commission shall ascertain that the following levies have been properly authorized and, if so authorized, shall approve them without modification:

(A) All levies in excess of the ten-mill limitation in the first year they are levied, unless the levy is the renewal of an existing tax or the subdivision or taxing unit requests an amount requiring a lower rate for the succeeding fiscal year. Such a request for an amount requiring a lower rate applies only to the succeeding fiscal year unless the subdivision or taxing unit expressly states that the request is permanent.

(B) All levies for unsatisfied debt charges, including levies that remain necessary to pay notes issued for emergency purposes;

(C) The levies prescribed by division (B) of sections 742.33 and 742.34 of the Revised Code;

(D) Except as otherwise provided in this division, a minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation for the current expense and debt service of each subdivision or taxing unit, which shall equal two-thirds of the average levy for current expenses and debt service allotted within the fifteen-mill limitation to such subdivision or taxing unit during the last five years the fifteen-mill limitation was in effect unless such subdivision or taxing unit requests an amount requiring a lower rate for the succeeding fiscal year, or if it expressed its intent to forgo collections from such a levy under division (E) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code. Such a request for an amount requiring a lower rate applies only to the succeeding fiscal year unless the subdivision or taxing unit expressly states that the request is permanent.

Except as provided in section 5705.312 of the Revised Code, if the levies required in divisions (B) and (C) of this section for the subdivision or taxing unit equal or exceed the entire minimum levy of the subdivision as fixed, the minimum levies of the other subdivisions or taxing units shall be reduced by the commission to provide for the levies and an operating levy for the subdivision. Such additional levy shall be deducted from the minimum levies of each of the other subdivisions or taxing units, but the operating levy for a school district shall not be reduced below a figure equivalent to forty-five per cent of the millage available within the ten-mill limitation after all the levies in divisions (B) and (C) of this section have been provided for.

If a municipal corporation and a township have entered into an annexation agreement under section 709.192 of the Revised Code in which they agree to reallocate their shares of the minimum levies established under this division and if that annexation agreement is submitted along with the annual tax budget of both the township and the municipal corporation, then, when determining the minimum levy under this division, the auditor shall allocate, to the extent possible, the minimum levy for that municipal corporation and township in accordance with their annexation agreement.

Divisions (A) to (D) of this section are mandatory, and commissions shall be without discretion to reduce such minimum levies except as provided in such divisions or as required in section 5705.316 of the Revised Code.

If any debt charge is omitted from the budget, the commission shall include it therein.

The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.

Last updated May 27, 2026 at 11:27 AM

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 16 cases, 1959–2019 · leading case: Cambridge City Sch. Dist. v. Guernsey Cnty. Budget Comm., 228 N.E.2d 874 (Ohio Ct. App. 1967).
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Cambridge City Sch. Dist. v. Guernsey Cnty. Budget Comm., 228 N.E.2d 874 (Ohio Ct. App. 1967). · cites it 33× “The Cambridge City School District was dissatisfied with the action of the Guernsey County Budget Commission when it approved its tax levy under the ten-mill limitation (Ohio Constitution Section 2, Article XII) under Section 5705.31, Revised Code. It appealed to the Board of…”
Sugarcreek Twp. v. City of Centerville, 921 N.E.2d 655 (Ohio Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2009). · cites it 10× “31 provides for “minimum levies within the 10-mill limitation for the current expense and debt service of each subdivision or taxing unit, based on the average inside millage levies in effect during the last five years before the 10-mill limitation went into effect (that is,…”
Sugarcreek Twp. v. City of Centerville, 2012-Ohio-4649, 979 N.E.2d 261. “{¶ 13} The court of appeals held that both entities were entitled to retain their minimum levies on the property within the annexation area, reduced to an amount within the ten-mill inside-millage limit in the manner prescribed by R.C. 5705.31. Id. at ¶ 172. The court also held…”
Georgetown v. Brown Cty. Bd. of Elections (Slip Opinion), 2019-Ohio-3915. “R.C. 5705.31(D) requires a county budget commission to reduce certain levies under circumstances not relevant here.”
Vill. of South Russell v. Budget Comm'n, 465 N.E.2d 876 (Ohio 1984). · cites it 9× “R.C. 5705.31. The latitude of the county budget commission review of the tax budgets of the subdivisions is provided by statute and varies with the particular type of taxes involved.”
Bd. of Educ. v. Lorain Cnty. Budget Comm'n, 526 N.E.2d 297 (Ohio 1988). · cites it 9× “R.C. 5705.31, in pertinent part, provides: “The [county budget] commission shall ascertain that the following levies have been properly authorized and, if so authorized, shall approve them without modification: (i * * * “(D) A minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation for the…”
Sanborn v. Hamilton Cty. Budget Comm. (Slip Opinion), 2014-Ohio-5218, 27 N.E.3d 498. · cites it 3× “By stark contrast, those constraints do not limit the budget commission’s authority here, because this case involves an increased effective rate of taxation under the outside mills, which is a tax increase that is not exempted from modification by the budget commission under…”
State ex rel. Fairfield Cnty. Bd. of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities v. Fairfield Cnty. Budget Comm'n, 461 N.E.2d 1297 (Ohio 1984). “of Mental Retardation, supra, and revolves around the apparent conflict between R.C. 5705.31, which requires the county budget commission to approve, without modification, levies in excess of the ten-mill limitation that have been properly passed by the voters, and R.”
Washington Local Sch. Dist. v. Budget Comm'n, 653 N.E.2d 1212 (Ohio 1995). · cites it 4× ““R.C. 5705.31, in pertinent part, provides: “ ‘The [county budget] commission shall ascertain that the following levies have been properly authorized and, if so authorized, shall approve them without modification: U i ifc ‡ ‡ “ ‘(D) A minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation…”
Vill. of Carlisle v. Warren Cnty. Budget Comm'n, 63 Ohio St. 3d 478 (1992). · cites it 2× “Under the mandate of R.C. 5705.31, the budget commission is obligated to approve without modification: “(D) A minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation for the current expense and debt service of each subdivision or taxing unit, which shall equal two-thirds of the average levy…”
Pal v. Budget Comm'n, 658 N.E.2d 244 (Ohio 1996). · cites it 2× “R.C. 5705.31. The Budget Commission is required by R.”
Washington Local Sch. Dist. v. Scioto Cty. Budget Comm., 73 Ohio St. 3d 700 (1995). · cites it 6× “5 mills of mandatory, minimum inside millage under R.C. 5705.31, the Nile Township district 4.”
Show all 16 citing cases →
Ohio Rev. Code § 5705.31(A): 1 case
Sanborn v. Hamilton Cty. Budget Comm. (Slip Opinion), 2014-Ohio-5218, 27 N.E.3d 498. “By stark contrast, those constraints do not limit the budget commission’s authority here, because this case involves an increased effective rate of taxation under the outside mills, which is a tax increase that is not exempted from modification by the budget commission under…”
Ohio Rev. Code § 5705.31(D): 5 cases
Georgetown v. Brown Cty. Bd. of Elections (Slip Opinion), 2019-Ohio-3915. “R.C. 5705.31(D) requires a county budget commission to reduce certain levies under circumstances not relevant here.”
Bd. of Educ. v. Lorain Cnty. Budget Comm'n, 526 N.E.2d 297 (Ohio 1988). “R.C. 5705.31, in pertinent part, provides: “The [county budget] commission shall ascertain that the following levies have been properly authorized and, if so authorized, shall approve them without modification: (i * * * “(D) A minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation for the…”
Washington Local Sch. Dist. v. Budget Comm'n, 653 N.E.2d 1212 (Ohio 1995). ““R.C. 5705.31, in pertinent part, provides: “ ‘The [county budget] commission shall ascertain that the following levies have been properly authorized and, if so authorized, shall approve them without modification: U i ifc ‡ ‡ “ ‘(D) A minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation…”
Vill. of Carlisle v. Warren Cnty. Budget Comm'n, 63 Ohio St. 3d 478 (1992). “Under the mandate of R.C. 5705.31, the budget commission is obligated to approve without modification: “(D) A minimum levy within the ten-mill limitation for the current expense and debt service of each subdivision or taxing unit, which shall equal two-thirds of the average levy…”
Washington Local Sch. Dist. v. Scioto Cty. Budget Comm., 73 Ohio St. 3d 700 (1995). “5 mills of mandatory, minimum inside millage under R.C. 5705.31, the Nile Township district 4.”
Ohio Rev. Code § 5705.31(E): 1 case
Sanborn v. Hamilton Cty. Budget Comm. (Slip Opinion), 2014-Ohio-5218, 27 N.E.3d 498. “By stark contrast, those constraints do not limit the budget commission’s authority here, because this case involves an increased effective rate of taxation under the outside mills, which is a tax increase that is not exempted from modification by the budget commission under…”
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