Ohio Code 3311.21 – Tax levy – rate
(A) In addition to the resolutions authorized by sections 5705.194, 5705.199, 5705.21, 5705.212, and 5705.213 of the Revised Code, the board of education of a joint vocational or cooperative education school district by a vote of two-thirds of its full membership may at any time adopt a resolution declaring the necessity to levy a tax in excess of the ten-mill limitation for a period not to exceed ten years to provide funds for any one or more of the following purposes, which may be stated in the following manner in such resolution, the ballot, and the notice of election: purchasing a site or enlargement thereof and for the erection and equipment of buildings; for the purpose of enlarging, improving, or rebuilding thereof; for the purpose of providing for the current expenses of the joint vocational or cooperative school district; or for a continuing period for the purpose of providing for the current expenses of the joint vocational or cooperative education school district. The resolution shall specify the amount of the proposed rate and, if a renewal, whether the levy is to renew all, or a portion of, the existing levy, and shall specify the first year in which the levy will be imposed. If the levy provides for but is not limited to current expenses, the resolution shall apportion the annual rate of the levy between current expenses and the other purpose or purposes. Such apportionment may but need not be the same for each year of the levy, but the respective portions of the rate actually levied each year for current expenses and the other purpose or purposes shall be limited by such apportionment. The portion of any such rate actually levied for current expenses of a joint vocational or cooperative education school district shall be used in applying division (A) of section 3317.01 of the Revised Code. The portion of any such rate not apportioned to the current expenses of a joint vocational or cooperative education school district shall be used in applying division (B) of this section. On the adoption of such resolution, the joint vocational or cooperative education school district board of education shall certify the resolution to the board of elections of the county containing the most populous portion of the district, which board shall receive resolutions for filing and send them to the boards of elections of each county in which territory of the district is located, furnish all ballots for the election as provided in section 3505.071 of the Revised Code, and prepare the election notice; and the board of elections of each county in which the territory of such district is located shall make the other necessary arrangements for the submission of the question to the electors of the joint vocational or cooperative education school district at the next primary or general election occurring not less than ninety days after the resolution was received from the joint vocational or cooperative education school district board of education, or at a special election to be held at a time designated by the district board of education consistent with the requirements of section 3501.01 of the Revised Code, which date shall not be earlier than ninety days after the adoption and certification of the resolution.
The board of elections of the county or counties in which territory of the joint vocational or cooperative education school district is located shall cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in that district an advertisement of the proposed tax levy question, together with a statement of the amount of the proposed levy once a week for two consecutive weeks or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code, prior to the election at which the question is to appear on the ballot. If the board of elections operates and maintains a web site, the board also shall post the advertisement on its web site for thirty days prior to that election.
If a majority of the electors voting on the question of levying such tax vote in favor of the levy, the joint vocational or cooperative education school district board of education shall annually make the levy within the district at the rate specified in the resolution and ballot or at any lesser rate, and the county auditor of each affected county shall annually place the levy on the tax list and duplicate of each school district in the county having territory in the joint vocational or cooperative education school district. The taxes realized from the levy shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as other taxes on the duplicate, and the taxes, when collected, shall be paid to the treasurer of the joint vocational or cooperative education school district and deposited to a special fund, which shall be established by the joint vocational or cooperative education school district board of education for all revenue derived from any tax levied pursuant to this section and for the proceeds of anticipation notes which shall be deposited in such fund. After the approval of the levy, the joint vocational or cooperative education school district board of education may anticipate a fraction of the proceeds of the levy and from time to time, during the life of the levy, but in any year prior to the time when the tax collection from the levy so anticipated can be made for that year, issue anticipation notes in an amount not exceeding fifty per cent of the estimated proceeds of the levy to be collected in each year up to a period of five years after the date of the issuance of the notes, less an amount equal to the proceeds of the levy obligated for each year by the issuance of anticipation notes, provided that the total amount maturing in any one year shall not exceed fifty per cent of the anticipated proceeds of the levy for that year. Each issue of notes shall be sold as provided in Chapter 133 of the Revised Code, and shall, except for such limitation that the total amount of such notes maturing in any one year shall not exceed fifty per cent of the anticipated proceeds of the levy for that year, mature serially in substantially equal installments, during each year over a period not to exceed five years after their issuance.
(B) Prior to the application of section 319.301 of the Revised Code, the rate of a levy that is limited to, or to the extent that it is apportioned to, purposes other than current expenses shall be reduced in the same proportion in which the district’s total valuation increases during the life of the levy because of additions to such valuation that have resulted from improvements added to the tax list and duplicate.
(C) The form of ballot cast at an election under division (A) of this section shall be as prescribed by section 5705.25 of the Revised Code.