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A movement to abolish property taxes is gaining momentum. What could that mean for local governments and services?
By: Amanda Pirani
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — In 2024, Beth Blackmarr saw her Lakewood home value jump from $182,000 to $299,000.
“It was a 51.9% increase,” she said. “I nearly hit the floor, it was huge.”
Blackmarr, a senior citizen who owns her home, said her property taxes have tripled over the last decade. Last year, she decided she’d seen enough. She began a local movement to reform property taxes, now known as Citizens for Property Tax Reform.
The organization, alongside AxOhioTax, is gathering signatures to get a constitutional amendment abolishing Ohio’s property taxes on the ballot in November.
Ohio ranks 8th nationally for its property tax rate and 11th for its foreclosure rate. Those statistics are part of the reason Blackmarr believes her movement to eliminate property taxes altogether is gaining momentum.
“I was on the phone with a woman the other night, and I had to tell her that her home was being auctioned off,” she said.
She wouldn’t divulge the organization’s progress on signatures, but said lawmakers should see it as a sign to take bolder action on the issue.
“A complete mess has been created and they’re not fixing that,” she said. “They’re fixing the legislation going forward … but it doesn’t help the people that are in trouble now.”
Ohio’s history of home rule means that most public services, like school districts, police and fire stations, and road maintenance rely primarily on local property tax levies. At the same time, home values have reached unprecedented levels.
Without remedy, some Ohioans have already reflected their frustrations at the ballot box, voting down local levies. Eastern Local Schools Superintendent Nick Detweiler said the district may have to look at budget cuts after a bond issue and maintenance levy did not pass in November.
“I think in the end, it just came down to people just don’t feel they can pay more taxes than they already are at this point,” he said.
Cindy Waugh, president of the Ohio County Auditor’s Association, said the organization has been lobbying for property tax reforms for two years, some of which the legislature moved on in 2025. She hopes voters see the reprieve in time.
“I really wonder if it’s too little, too late,” she said. “I think they should have fixed this a couple of years ago.”
How did we get here?
Most property tax funds are collected via local levies placed on the ballot and approved by voters. Those levies ask for a particular millage rate — with one mill being $1 of tax for every $1,000 of property value.
More than three-fifths of property tax revenue goes to public schools. More than half the funding public libraries rely on comes from local property taxes.
Counties also use property tax funds to support services for behavioral health, people with disabilities, children’s services and emergency medical services among others.
While local dollars have always been the primary source of funding for local organizations, the reliance on those local dollars has increased over time. The reasons for this are complex, but are in part the result of sluggish economic growth, spiking home values, clawed back state contributions and decreased taxation on businesses.
According to a report by the Ohio Education Policy Institute, changes to business taxation in the early to mid 2000s increased the share of property taxes covered by residential and agricultural property owners. In 1999, residential and agricultural property owners paid 52.4% of school property taxes. In 2023, that number was 67.5%.
Meanwhile, the size of tax cuts and abatements provided to businesses has also grown by 82.2% from 2004 to 2024, according to the same report.
Those advocating for property tax reform, like Blackmarr, have been especially critical of state sales tax breaks and local property tax abatements offered to the increasing number of data centers in Ohio.
“Once everybody is paying their share, this is going to be spread a lot thinner,” she said.
Over time, state contributions to local entities have also decreased. In 2002, the state ranked 35th nationally for its contributions to K-12 education. Now, that ranking is 45th.
The state’s Local Government Fund has also been reduced over the last two decades. Former Gov. John Kasich cut the LGF from 3.68% to 1.66% in the 2012-2013 budget, citing recession pressures. In fiscal year 2025, that rate was 1.70%.
Ohio has also decreased its use of state income taxes. The rate has been cut several times throughout the years. Most recently, the legislature passed a flat 2.75% tax rate that took effect in 2026.
Alongside state reductions in spending and taxation, income for the average Ohioan and statewide economic growth has remained below national averages. But home values have continued to skyrocket since 2020.
“We’ve never experienced this type of market before,” said Waugh, of the County Auditor Association. “The cost of owning a home and the record market values and all of that has just driven everything up.”
County boards of developmental disabilities in Washington and Lawrence Counties have cut staff and may close schools serving those with disabilities after their levies failed.
In the village of Rutland, a failed additional police levy means the area will remain without a dedicated night shift officer, and one day a week without any local police coverage. Mayor Tyler Eblin said that means increased response times during periods covered by the county sheriff.
“We can’t reasonably expect the sheriff to provide the same degree or level of police protection that our own police department is providing, simply because we don’t want to fund that service,” he said.
Eblin said he believes part of the challenge in garnering voter support for property taxes may be a communication and education problem. He plans to engage in door-to-door canvassing before placing a police levy on the ballot again.
Some communities struggle to pass local levies
For some communities, growing frustrations with the rise in property taxes has resulted in some difficult choices.
In southeast Ohio, voters rejected more than 30 levies for a variety of public services, from police protection to street repairs, in 2025. Seventy passed with only a 10% margin. In 2024, 61 of the region’s local levies failed.
Local leaders said levies are always challenging to pass, especially during off-years when voter turnout is low. But even for agencies that are typically supported, the ask is facing resistance.
The district has been unable to amass new funding since before 2000 and will soon be unable to balance its budget.
“We borrowed $2.6 million at the beginning of January just to address our cash flow shortage, to allow us to meet payroll,” he said.
Shutler said the district will try to put the levy back on the ballot in May. If it fails, the school’s continued existence could be in question.
County boards of developmental disabilities in Washington and Lawrence Counties have cut staff and may close schools serving those with disabilities after their levies failed.
In the village of Rutland, a failed additional police levy means the area will remain without a dedicated night shift officer, and one day a week without any local police coverage. Mayor Tyler Eblin said that means increased response times during periods covered by the county sheriff.
“We can’t reasonably expect the sheriff to provide the same degree or level of police protection that our own police department is providing, simply because we don’t want to fund that service,” he said.
Eblin said he believes part of the challenge in garnering voter support for property taxes may be a communication and education problem. He plans to engage in door-to-door canvassing before placing a police levy on the ballot again.
“I’m all for amending things, but to totally abolish it is going to really destroy a lot of small governments that are actually doing a very good job of servicing their people,” he said.
Blackmarr believes that if property taxes are eliminated, lawmakers should be able to find another way to fund local services.
“The scare tactic that all of it’s going to shut down if we get rid of property taxes, it’s unfair and it’s untrue,” she said. “That is a failure of the legislature because it’s their job to figure out what happens with those.”
There are currently no U.S. states operating without a property tax, though some states rely on them less than Ohio.
In Scioto County, Washington Township Trustee Scott Bauer said that next year the area will likely have to cut a deputy or two after a replacement levy failed.
Zac Shutler, superintendent of Union Local School District, said local school boards and superintendents are often the recipients of what he called misplaced anger regarding property tax hikes. “We didn’t create the game … we’re just trying to survive and function within the rules that are set for us,” he said.
Union Local saw a 20-year bond issue and additional levy on the ballot fail in November. Similar levies failed in 2024.
Shutler said the bond issue would have allowed the school district to address several necessary repairs to 30-year-old infrastructure, including replacement of its roof and HVAC systems.
Nease said in border towns like Middleport, sales tax would not be a reliable source of income.
“We’re right on the West Virginia border,” he said. “If we would have to charge an enormous sales tax here, people could just go across the river to Walmart and save a lot of money.”
Waugh said that while she believes reforms are necessary, property taxes are ultimately a more equitable option.
“There’s an 85-year-old woman … she’s living in a small house on a small plot of land,” she said. “Then you’ve got this guy, he’s decided to have 50 acres … he is going to pay more in property taxes than she is. That’s a little bit fairer system than both of them paying 20% on their toilet paper.”