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A ballot issue with a levy is a request for funds to be raised immediately by taxing the value of property. In FranklinCounty, levies are used to provide funds for schools, COTA, Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging, Franklin County Children Services, Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, etc. Levies are expressed in "mills," or the percentage of property value to be taxed. A ballot issue with a bond issue is a request for permission to essentially take out a loan to pay for capital improvements (buildings, roads, other infrastructure, etc.). The money is received up front from the sale of bonds to investors and paid back by the taxpayers, with interest, over time. Although bonds end up costing more, they also spread out the costs to people in the future who will be the users of the new school or bridge. Ballot issues are expressed in the total dollar amount to be borrowed. |
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Millage is a way to express property tax rates. A mill is equal to 1/1000th of a dollar. The taxable value of property in Ohio is 35% of the value as appraised by the county auditor. So, for example, if you see a ballot issue asking for a 2 mill levy, and your house is worth $100,000 (according to the county auditor, not your realtor), the tax being asked for is: $100,000 (value of your house) x .35 (to find the taxable value) x .002 (which is 2 one-thousandths of a dollar) = $70 per year. Some counties have slick calculators where you look by school district or plug in your address: Franklin Co.: http://apps.franklincountyauditor.com/LevyEstimator Delaware Co: http://delaware-auditor-ohio.manatron.com/TaxEstimatorSite.aspx |
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New, Renewal, or Replacement levies |
New levies are just that: a new property tax. A renewal levy means that the tax you owe for this levy will remain the same, even if your property value has increased since the last time this levy was enacted. A replacement levy may sound the same, but it will almost always cost more. Many times, a replacement levy will ask for a higher levy amount. However, even if it asks for the exact same millage as the expiring levy it replaces, it will likely cost more because it will be based on the (almost always) increased value of your property since the last time the levy was enacted. So, a ballot issue that renews a 2 mill levy from the year 2010, when your home was worth $100,000, will cost pretty much the same as it did in the year 2010, even if your house is now worth $200,000. If the agency asks for a 2 mill replacement levy, it will cost more because it is based on your property now being worth $200,000. |
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