Citizen-led groups the Official Committee to Abolish Ohio’s Property Taxes, also known as AxOHTax, and Citizens for Property Tax Reform are backing a ballot initiative to amend the Ohio Constitution to abolish property taxes.  

Citizens for Property Tax Reform originally formed in late 2024 in Cuyahoga County. Despite the name calling for reform, the group is calling for the complete elimination of property taxes, which could mean significant funding changes for municipal services.  

The group started the process to put the initiative before voters in this year’s general election over the summer, but ultimately decided to  

Rob Pullon, the regional captain for Zone Six covering eight counties across southeast Ohio, including Athens County, said homeowners are struggling to keep up with recent property tax increases.  

“Our property taxes hold our houses hostage,” Pullon said.  

For Pullon, watching his own mother be unable to pay her property tax bills spurred him to get involved with AxOHTax. 

“My mom’s on disability and social security. When she got her last property evaluation, she called me and was like, ‘I can’t pay this. My taxes are becoming more than my mortgage, and I don’t make that type of money,’” he said.  

While Pullon said he is grateful he is able to help his mother maintain ownership of her home, he recognizes that not everyone has the ability to provide for their aging parents in the same way.  

Pullon and his mother are not alone. Ohioans across the state are grappling with sudden increases in their property taxes.  

Craig Downs is a farmer from Morgan County. He owns a 228-acre farm where he grows hay and raises cattle. Between 2022 and 2024, Downs said his property taxes increased by about 43%, from $1,040.72 to $1,546.56.  

“Obviously my wages as a retiree did not take a 43% jump,” Downs said. “(I’m) currently paying $350 a month to live in my home that I own and is paid for. It is the biggest single monthly bill that we have.” 

Downs also works with AxOHTax. He collects signatures for the Athens County area. He says he has heard countless stories from farmers and senior citizens in need of tax relief.  

“We got a lot of situations where people, maybe in their 70s, retired, of course income’s not going as far as it used to, and then one of them passes away. ... Suddenly, their income has taken a huge reduction and their property taxes have skyrocketed and these people are desperate,” Downs said.  

While taxpayers say they need a break, simply getting rid of all property taxes would not be a simple fix. Local services like police and fire departments, emergency management services and public school districts rely on property tax revenue to function.  

This is typically done through tax levies, such as emergency, substitute and replacement levies, which allow voters to approve or deny certain funding for local services. Oftentimes, these levies will last for a certain number of years and will need to be renewed periodically to continue funding a specific organization.  

Public schools in Ohio are funded through a combination of federal, state and local money. A large part of the local funding comes from property tax revenue.  

State efforts toward tax reform

State officials are very much aware of voters’ growing distress around property taxes.  

In the biennial budget Governor DeWine signed in June, state lawmakers supported several provisions to bring taxpayers relief. However, DeWine vetoed three of the main provisions relating to property taxes, citing his concern that it would not leave enough time for local governments and school districts to account for the drastic funding changes.  

Those three provisions would have set a cap on how much cash school districts could carry over between fiscal years, allowed county budget commissions to decrease levies and changed how the 20-mill floor, the formula that determines how much funding schools receive, would be calculated.  

Instead of signing off on those budget line-items, DeWine established the 11-member Property Tax Reform Working Group. The group was tasked with studying property tax reform and delivering a report on what they believed would be best practices to address the issue. They submitted their report Sept. 30.  

On their website, AxOHTax acknowledged the public’s concerns over what would happen to their local services and schools without property taxes. Pullon said it is up to those local agencies to manage their funding better.   

“The services need to budget better, and with them budgeting better, they can still have the same amount of resources they’ve always had,” Pullon said.  

Downs had a different take and said he would be willing to pay for their services himself, so long as the charge did not come out of his property taxes. 

“If I have a fire, bill me, you know, or just send me a bill. Don’t tie it to my property where you can take my property away from me if I can’t pay it,” Downs said.  

"We should pay taxes, and we want to pay taxes for the services we need."

However, Athens City Fire Chief Robert Rymer said the fire department is already understaffed at its current funding level, and that any more cuts could be detrimental.  

Rymer said the fire department is mainly funded through the city’s income tax, but it does receive some money from Athens’ general fund, which is funded by property taxes. If the city were to lose that revenue, Rymer said there is not much the fire department can do to make up the cost.  

“It would really affect our services of what we could provide, as well as EMS. If EMS does not have a property tax revenue and they have to close their doors, who’s going to provide EMS services here in the city?” Rymer said. “Well, is that going to go onto the fire department, who already has their staffing cut."  

Pullon emphasized that he is not against paying taxes in general, he just does not want his taxes to be tied to his property. 

“I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pay taxes. I agree that we should pay taxes, and we want to pay taxes for the services we need,” Pullon said. “Put them to an income or a spending or a method that people don’t feel helpless about because with your home, there’s nothing you can do.” 

If the state is unable to solve the issues surrounding property taxes soon, Pullon said he is worried about if the younger generation will be able to own their own homes.  

“With property taxes increasing at the rate that they’re increasing, that takes the affordability out of home for kids,” Pullon said. “For my kids, and for my grandkids, my great grandkids, our future generations are not going to be able to afford their own homes if property taxes remain in place.” 

Downs said he and his wife have considered leaving the state if their property tax rates do not ease soon. 

“We honestly have talked about selling the place and moving south, Tennessee is talked about simply because they have lower property taxes than ours, plus no ... no state income tax,” Downs said.  

Rymer said while he understands the stress taxpayers are under, he hopes the state can find the solution that will still fund municipal services.  

“Hopefully we can get the education out there to say, ‘Let’s do something about these property taxes, but let’s not, you know, throw the baby out with the bath water.’” 

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