Ohio Revised Code
Chapter 5705 | Tax Levy Law
Section 5705.29 | Contents of Tax Budget - Contingency Reserve Balance - Spending Reserve.

Effective: March 27, 2020
Latest Legislation: House Bill 197 - 133rd General Assembly
This section does not apply to a subdivision or taxing unit for which the county budget commission has waived the requirement to adopt a tax budget pursuant to section 5705.281 of the Revised Code. The tax budget shall present the following information in such detail as is prescribed by the auditor of state:
(A)(1) A statement of the necessary current operating expenses for the ensuing fiscal year for each department and division of the subdivision, classified as to personal services and other expenses, and the fund from which such expenditures are to be made. Except in the case of a school district, this estimate may include a contingent expense not designated for any particular purpose, and not to exceed three per cent of the total amount of appropriations for current expenses. In the case of a school district, this estimate may include a contingent expense not designated for any particular purpose and not to exceed thirteen per cent of the total amount of appropriations for current expenses.
(2) A statement of the expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year necessary for permanent improvements, exclusive of any expense to be paid from bond issues, classified as to the improvements contemplated by the subdivision and the fund from which such expenditures are to be made;
(3) The amounts required for the payment of final judgments;
(4) A statement of expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year necessary for any purpose for which a special levy is authorized, and the fund from which such expenditures are to be made;
(5) Comparative statements, so far as possible, in parallel columns of corresponding items of expenditures for the current fiscal year and the two preceding fiscal years.
(B)(1) An estimate of receipts from other sources than the general property tax during the ensuing fiscal year, which shall include an estimate of unencumbered balances at the end of the current fiscal year, and the funds to which such estimated receipts are credited;
(2) The amount each fund requires from the general property tax, which shall be the difference between the contemplated expenditure from the fund and the estimated receipts, as provided in this section. The section of the Revised Code under which the tax is authorized shall be set forth.
(3) Comparative statements, so far as possible, in parallel columns of taxes and other revenues for the current fiscal year and the two preceding fiscal years.
(C)(1) The amount required for debt charges;
(2) The estimated receipts from sources other than the tax levy for payment of such debt charges, including the proceeds of refunding bonds to be issued to refund bonds maturing in the next succeeding fiscal year;
(3) The net amount for which a tax levy shall be made, classified as to bonds authorized and issued prior to January 1, 1922, and those authorized and issued subsequent to such date, and as to what portion of the levy will be within and what in excess of the ten-mill limitation.
(D) An estimate of amounts from taxes authorized to be levied in excess of the ten-mill limitation on the tax rate, and the fund to which such amounts will be credited, together with the sections of the Revised Code under which each such tax is exempted from all limitations on the tax rate.
(E)(1) A board of education may include in its budget for the fiscal year in which a levy proposed under section 5705.194, 5705.199, 5705.21, 5705.213, or 5705.219, a property tax levy proposed under section 5748.09, or the original levy under section 5705.212 of the Revised Code is first extended on the tax list and duplicate an estimate of expenditures to be known as a voluntary contingency reserve balance, which shall not be greater than twenty-five per cent of the total amount of the levy estimated to be available for appropriation in such year.
(2) A board of education may include in its budget for the fiscal year following the year in which a levy proposed under section 5705.194, 5705.199, 5705.21, 5705.213, or 5705.219, a property tax levy proposed under section 5748.09, or the original levy under section 5705.212 of the Revised Code is first extended on the tax list and duplicate an estimate of expenditures to be known as a voluntary contingency reserve balance, which shall not be greater than twenty per cent of the amount of the levy estimated to be available for appropriation in such year.
(3) Except as provided in division (E)(4) of this section, the full amount of any reserve balance the board includes in its budget shall be retained by the county auditor and county treasurer out of the first semiannual settlement of taxes until the beginning of the next succeeding fiscal year, and thereupon, with the depository interest apportioned thereto, it shall be turned over to the board of education, to be used for the purposes of such fiscal year.
(4) A board of education, by a two-thirds vote of all members of the board, may appropriate any amount withheld as a voluntary contingency reserve balance during the fiscal year for any lawful purpose, provided that prior to such appropriation the board of education has authorized the expenditure of all amounts appropriated for contingencies under section 5705.40 of the Revised Code. Upon request by the board of education, the county auditor shall draw a warrant on the district's account in the county treasury payable to the district in the amount requested.
(F) Except as otherwise provided in this division, the county budget commission shall not reduce the taxing authority of a subdivision as a result of the creation of a reserve balance account. Except as otherwise provided in this division, the county budget commission shall not consider the amount in a reserve balance account of a township, county, or municipal corporation as an unencumbered balance or as revenue for the purposes of division (E)(3) or (4) of section 5747.51 of the Revised Code. The county budget commission may require documentation of the reasonableness of the reserve balance held in any reserve balance account. The commission shall consider any amount in a reserve balance account that it determines to be unreasonable as unencumbered and as revenue for the purposes of section 5747.51 of the Revised Code and may take such amounts into consideration when determining whether to reduce the taxing authority of a subdivision.

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