In Southwest Ohio, the Butler County Commission voted this week to reduce local property tax to the tune of $20 million.
They made the changes with two provisions — one, a so-called ‘piggyback’ homestead exemption, and the other, a nearly 1 mill (or 0.1%) rollback of the county’s inside millage.
The move comes as Ohio lawmakers wrangle over several proposals to rein in property taxes and a property tax working group set up by Gov. Mike DeWine finalizes its set of proposed fixes. Lawmakers still haven’t given up on overriding the governor’s property tax vetoes from the budget. All the while, organizers continue collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment repealing property taxes.
Commission President Don Dixon said Ohio’s property taxes are a mess, and it’s state lawmakers’ job to clean it up.
“Commissioners have no legislative authority. We can only do what the Ohio Revised Code says we can do,” Dixon said. “The responsibility to fix it, clearly, is only in the hands of the state legislature.”
The county’s changes
In a press release, Butler County officials said they’ve returned roughly $50 million to homeowners through their most recent rollback, and two previous reductions in 2022 and 2024.
The piggyback homestead exemption will give seniors and permanently disabled homeowners in Butler County a little more breathing room. The standard statewide homestead exemption shields the first $28,000 of a homeowner’s appraised value from taxation. The county’s piggyback exemption effectively doubles that protection.
“We felt that the homestead reduction would help seniors and those, you know, on the edge,” Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said. “That additional, whatever the amount is, $100, $200 a year, makes a big difference to some people.”
The county’s inside millage cut brings its rate down from 1.92 mills to 1 mill for taxes they’ll collect next year. For a hypothetical home with a taxable value of $100,000, that reduction would take their tax bill from $192 to $100. The rollback will only be in place for one year, reducing the amount of property tax revenue the county collects in 2026.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers said he hopes the proposals demonstrate to Butler County residents that, “We hear you; we work for you; and we give back to you.”
“Even a drunken sailor”
Dixon argued the changes were necessary because the county, like many others in Ohio, is buckling under the pressure of rising home values. Following its most recent triennial update, Butler County’s median home value rose by 37%.
“I mean, even a drunken sailor would be able to realize that these numbers are just astronomical,” Dixon said. “And no one, even if you had your own printing press, could keep up.”
In an email, County Auditor Nancy Nix warned those increases weren’t a one-time thing. Her office has been working all year on the upcoming 2026 re-valuation, which will impact tax bills in 2027. She expects values to climb another 13% to 25%, which could translate to tax increases of as much as 15%.
Dixon expressed frustration that lawmakers balked at overriding DeWine’s vetoes over the summer. Instead of overriding three provisions, the House voted on one. The Senate hasn’t weighed in yet.
“There’s a process to override that veto. It takes 60%, and I’ll be damned, they couldn’t even get 60% to support their own legislation,” he said. “So, if you don’t think that’s a mess, I don’t know what a mess is.”
Dixon promised to lead a group from Butler County up to the state capitol “to show those folks that, look, you just can’t pat us on the back and tell us thanks for coming and do nothing.”
Dixon also said county leaders “have a card to play” at the ballot box. While organizers gather signatures to repeal property taxes, he threatened to start collecting signatures for an amendment of his own. He didn’t share specifics but suggested there should be “guardrails” to limit tax increases.
“One way or another, we’re going to have to fix this,” Dixon said. “We’re not going to sit here and take it quietly. We’ve played by the rules, went through all the proper procedures and got lied to, and lied to, and lied to, and now it’s time we take a stand and this is it.”
This article was originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal and is republished here with permission.