(A) For the purpose of providing additional general revenues for the county, supporting criminal and administrative justice services in the county, funding a regional transportation improvement project under section 5595.06 of the Revised Code, or any combination of the foregoing, and to pay the expenses of administering such levy, any county may levy a tax at the rate of not more than one per cent upon every retail sale made in the county, except sales of watercraft and outboard motors required to be titled pursuant to Chapter 1548 of the Revised Code and sales of motor vehicles, and may increase the rate of an existing tax to not more than one per cent. The rate of any tax levied pursuant to this section shall be a multiple of one-twentieth of one per cent. The rate levied under this section in any county other than a county that adopted a charter under Article X, Section 3, Ohio Constitution, may exceed one per cent, but may not exceed one and one-half per cent minus the amount by which the rate levied under section 5739.023 of the Revised Code by the county transit authority exceeds one per cent.

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

The tax shall be levied and the rate increased pursuant to a resolution of the board of county commissioners. The resolution shall state the purpose for which the tax is to be levied and the number of years for which the tax is to be levied, or that it is for a continuing period of time. If the tax is to be levied for the purpose of providing additional general revenues and for the purpose of supporting criminal and administrative justice services, the resolution shall state the rate or amount of the tax to be apportioned to each such purpose. The rate or amount may be different for each year the tax is to be levied, but the rates or amounts actually apportioned each year shall not be different from that stated in the resolution for that year. Any amount by which the rate of the tax exceeds one per cent shall be apportioned exclusively for the construction, operation, acquisition, equipping, or repair of a detention facility in the county.

If the resolution is adopted as an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, it must receive an affirmative vote of all of the members of the board of county commissioners and shall state the reasons for such necessity. The board shall deliver a certified copy of the resolution to the tax commissioner, not later than the sixty-fifth day prior to the date on which the tax is to become effective, which shall be the first day of the calendar quarter. A resolution proposing to levy a tax at a rate that would cause the rate levied under this section to exceed one per cent may not be adopted as an emergency measure.

Prior to the adoption of any resolution under this section, the board of county commissioners shall conduct two public hearings on the resolution, the second hearing to be not less than three nor more than ten days after the first. Notice of the date, time, and place of the hearings shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code, once a week on the same day of the week for two consecutive weeks, the second publication being not less than ten nor more than thirty days prior to the first hearing.

Except as provided in division (B)(1) or (3) of this section, the resolution shall be subject to a referendum as provided in sections 305.31 to 305.41 of the Revised Code.

If a petition for a referendum is filed, the county auditor with whom the petition was filed shall, within five days, notify the board of county commissioners and the tax commissioner of the filing of the petition by certified mail. If the board of elections with which the petition was filed declares the petition invalid, the board of elections, within five days, shall notify the board of county commissioners and the tax commissioner of that declaration by certified mail. If the petition is declared to be invalid, the effective date of the tax or increased rate of tax levied by this section shall be the first day of a calendar quarter following the expiration of sixty-five days from the date the commissioner receives notice from the board of elections that the petition is invalid.

(B)(1) A resolution that is not adopted as an emergency measure may direct the board of elections to submit the question of levying the tax or increasing the rate of tax to the electors of the county at a special election held on the date specified by the board of county commissioners in the resolution, provided that the election occurs not less than ninety days after a certified copy of such resolution is transmitted to the board of elections and the election is not held in August of any year. A resolution proposing to levy a tax at a rate that would cause the rate levied under this section to exceed one per cent may not go into effect unless the question is submitted to electors under this division. Upon transmission of the resolution to the board of elections, the board of county commissioners shall notify the tax commissioner in writing of the levy question to be submitted to the electors. No resolution adopted under this division shall go into effect unless approved by a majority of those voting upon it, and, except as provided in division (B)(3) of this section, shall become effective on the first day of a calendar quarter following the expiration of sixty-five days from the date the tax commissioner receives notice from the board of elections of the affirmative vote.

(2) A resolution that is adopted as an emergency measure shall go into effect as provided in division (A) of this section, but may direct the board of elections to submit the question of repealing the tax or increase in the rate of the tax to the electors of the county at the next general election in the county occurring not less than ninety days after a certified copy of the resolution is transmitted to the board of elections. Upon transmission of the resolution to the board of elections, the board of county commissioners shall notify the tax commissioner in writing of the levy question to be submitted to the electors. The ballot question shall be the same as that prescribed in section 5739.022 of the Revised Code. The board of elections shall notify the board of county commissioners and the tax commissioner of the result of the election immediately after the result has been declared. If a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question of repealing the tax or increase in the rate of the tax vote for repeal of the tax or repeal of the increase, the board of county commissioners, on the first day of a calendar quarter following the expiration of sixty-five days after the date the board and tax commissioner receive notice of the result of the election, shall, in the case of a repeal of the tax, cease to levy the tax, or, in the case of a repeal of an increase in the rate of the tax, cease to levy the increased rate and levy the tax at the rate at which it was imposed immediately prior to the increase in rate.

(3) If a vendor makes a sale in this state by printed catalog and the consumer computed the tax on the sale based on local rates published in the catalog, any tax levied or repealed or rate changed under this section shall not apply to such a sale until the first day of a calendar quarter following the expiration of one hundred twenty days from the date of notice by the tax commissioner pursuant to division (H) of this section.

(C) If a resolution is rejected at a referendum or if a resolution adopted after January 1, 1982, as an emergency measure is repealed by the electors pursuant to division (B)(2) of this section or section 5739.022 of the Revised Code, then for one year after the date of the election at which the resolution was rejected or repealed the board of county commissioners may not adopt any resolution authorized by this section as an emergency measure.

(D) The board of county commissioners, at any time while a tax levied under this section is in effect, may by resolution reduce the rate at which the tax is levied to a lower rate authorized by this section. Any reduction in the rate at which the tax is levied shall be made effective on the first day of a calendar quarter next following the sixty-fifth day after a certified copy of the resolution is delivered to the tax commissioner.

(E) The tax on every retail sale subject to a tax levied pursuant to this section shall be in addition to the tax levied by section 5739.02 of the Revised Code and any tax levied pursuant to section 5739.023 or 5739.026 of the Revised Code.

A county that levies a tax pursuant to this section shall levy a tax at the same rate pursuant to section 5741.021 of the Revised Code.

The additional tax levied by the county shall be collected pursuant to section 5739.025 of the Revised Code. If the additional tax or some portion thereof is levied for the purpose of criminal and administrative justice services or specifically for the purpose of constructing, operating, acquiring, equipping, or repairing a detention facility, the revenue from the tax, or the amount or rate apportioned to that purpose, shall be credited to one or more special funds created in the county treasury for receipt of that revenue.

Any tax levied pursuant to this section is subject to the exemptions provided in section 5739.02 of the Revised Code and in addition shall not be applicable to sales not within the taxing power of a county under the Constitution of the United States or the Ohio Constitution.

(F) For purposes of this section, a copy of a resolution is “certified” when it contains a written statement attesting that the copy is a true and exact reproduction of the original resolution.

(G) If a board of commissioners intends to adopt a resolution to levy a tax in whole or in part for the purpose of criminal and administrative justice services, the board shall prepare and make available at the first public hearing at which the resolution is considered a statement containing the following information:

(1) For each of the two preceding fiscal years, the amount of expenditures made by the county from the county general fund for the purpose of criminal and administrative justice services;

(2) For the fiscal year in which the resolution is adopted, the board’s estimate of the amount of expenditures to be made by the county from the county general fund for the purpose of criminal and administrative justice services;

(3) For each of the two fiscal years after the fiscal year in which the resolution is adopted, the board’s preliminary plan for expenditures to be made from the county general fund for the purpose of criminal and administrative justice services, both under the assumption that the tax will be imposed for that purpose and under the assumption that the tax would not be imposed for that purpose, and for expenditures to be made from the special fund created under division (E) of this section under the assumption that the tax will be imposed for that purpose.

The board shall prepare the statement and the preliminary plan using the best information available to the board at the time the statement is prepared. Neither the statement nor the preliminary plan shall be used as a basis to challenge the validity of the tax in any court of competent jurisdiction, nor shall the statement or preliminary plan limit the authority of the board to appropriate, pursuant to section 5705.38 of the Revised Code, an amount different from that specified in the preliminary plan.

(H) Upon receipt from a board of county commissioners of a certified copy of a resolution required by division (A) or (D) of this section, or from the board of elections of a notice of the results of an election required by division (A) or (B)(1) or (2) of this section, the tax commissioner shall provide notice of a tax rate change in a manner that is reasonably accessible to all affected vendors. The commissioner shall provide this notice at least sixty days prior to the effective date of the rate change. The commissioner, by rule, may establish the method by which notice will be provided.

(I) As used in this section:

(1) “Criminal and administrative justice services” means the exercise by the county sheriff of all powers and duties vested in that office by law; the exercise by the county prosecuting attorney of all powers and duties vested in that office by law; the exercise by any court in the county of all powers and duties vested in that court; the exercise by the clerk of the court of common pleas, any clerk of a municipal court having jurisdiction throughout the county, or the clerk of any county court of all powers and duties vested in the clerk by law except, in the case of the clerk of the court of common pleas, the titling of motor vehicles or watercraft pursuant to Chapter 1548. or 4505. of the Revised Code; the exercise by the county coroner of all powers and duties vested in that office by law; making payments to any other public agency or a private, nonprofit agency, the purposes of which in the county include the diversion, adjudication, detention, or rehabilitation of criminals or juvenile offenders; the operation and maintenance of any detention facility; and the construction, acquisition, equipping, or repair of such a detention facility.

(2) “Detention facility” has the same meaning as in section 2921.01 of the Revised Code.

(3) “Construction, operation, acquisition, equipping, or repair” of a detention facility includes the payment of any debt charges incurred in the issuance of securities pursuant to Chapter 133 of the Revised Code for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, equipping, or repairing such a facility.