(127th General Assembly)
(Amended Substitute House Bill Number 359)



AN ACT
To amend section 321.261 of the Revised Code to authorize the prosecutor and treasurer of a county with a population greater than 100,000 to utilize surplus delinquent tax collections to facilitate nuisance abatement of deteriorated residential buildings in foreclosure and to prosecute criminal and civil real estate transaction-related violations of the law.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:

SECTION 1. That section 321.261 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 321.261.  (A) Five per cent of all delinquent real property, personal property, and manufactured and mobile home taxes and assessments collected by the county treasurer shall be deposited in the delinquent tax and assessment collection fund, which shall be created in the county treasury. The Except as otherwise provided in division (B) of this section, the moneys in the fund, one-half of which shall be appropriated by the board of county commissioners to the treasurer and one-half of which shall be appropriated to the county prosecuting attorney, shall be used solely in connection with the collection of delinquent real property, personal property, and manufactured and mobile home taxes and assessments.

Annually by the first day of December, the treasurer and the prosecuting attorney each shall submit a report to the board regarding the use of the moneys appropriated to their respective offices from the delinquent tax and assessment collection fund. Each report shall specify the amount appropriated to the office during the current calendar year, an estimate of the amount so appropriated that will be expended by the end of the year, a summary of how the amount appropriated has been expended in connection with delinquent tax collection activities, and an estimate of the amount that will be credited to the fund during the ensuing calendar year.

(B) In a county having a population of more than one hundred thousand according to the department of development's 2006 census estimate, if the county treasurer or prosecuting attorney determines that the amount appropriated to the office from the county's delinquent tax and assessment collection fund under division (A) of this section exceeds the amount required to be used as prescribed by that division, the county treasurer or prosecuting attorney may expend the excess to assist townships or municipal corporations located in the county as provided in this division, provided that the combined amount so expended each year in a county shall not exceed three million dollars. Upon application for the funds by a township or municipal corporation, the county treasurer and prosecuting attorney may assist the township or municipal corporation in abating foreclosed residential nuisances, including paying the costs of securing such buildings, lot maintenance, and demolition. At the prosecuting attorney's discretion, the prosecuting attorney also may apply the funds to costs of prosecuting alleged violations of criminal and civil laws governing real estate and related transactions, including fraud and abuse.

SECTION 2. That existing section 321.261 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.