To amend sections 1711.081, 1711.15, and 1711.16 of the Revised Code to authorize the board of county commissioners of a county in which there exists a county agricultural society to appropriate any amount the board considers necessary for the purchase of a site for holding fairs, the erection of buildings or other improvements on such a site, or payments of rent or other forms of indebtedness of the agricultural society, and to remove the requirement that the question of a tax levy be submitted to the qualified electors of a county in which the board appropriates more than fifty thousand dollars in one year for those purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Sec. 1711.081. The positions of members of the board of directors, officers, and employees of a county or independent agricultural society are not public offices, and persons holding such THOSE positions are eligible to hold any public office except for the office of county commissioner. A member of the county budget commission is eligible to be a member of the board of directors of a county or AN independent agricultural society unless a tax is levied in the county pursuant to section 1711.15 or 1711.17 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 1711.15. In any county in which there is a duly organized county agricultural society, the board of county commissioners may purchase or lease, for a term of not less than twenty years, real estate on which to hold fairs under the management and control of the county agricultural society, and may erect thereon suitable buildings and otherwise improve it.

In counties in which there is a county agricultural society which THAT has purchased, or leased, for a term of not less than twenty years, real estate as a site on which to hold fairs or in which the title to such THE site is vested in fee in the county, the board may erect or repair buildings or otherwise improve such THE site and pay the rental thereof, or contribute to or pay any other form of indebtedness of the society, if the director of agriculture has certified to the board that the county agricultural society is complying with all laws and rules governing the operation of county agricultural societies. The board may appropriate from the general fund such an ANY amount as THAT it deems CONSIDERS necessary for any of those purposes. If the amount appropriated to be expended in the purchase of such real estate or in the erection of buildings or other improvements or payments of rent or other forms of indebtedness of the society exceeds fifty thousand dollars in any one year, such expenditure shall not be made unless the question of a levy of the tax therefor is submitted to the qualified electors of the county at a general election, a notice of which, specifying the amount to be levied, has been given at least thirty days previous to such election. This notice shall be given either by publishing it in one or more newspapers published and of general circulation in the county, or by mailing or otherwise distributing it to each elector in the county as far as is reasonably possible. The board shall pass a resolution authorizing the submission of the question to the electors and certify their action to the board of elections of the county which shall prepare and furnish the necessary ballots and other supplies. Such certification shall be made to the board of elections not later than four p.m. of the seventy-fifth day before the day of election. The form of the ballots cast at such election shall be:

"Agricultural tax--Yes."

"Agricultural tax--No."

If the majority of the vote cast is in favor of such tax, it may be levied and collected as other taxes.

The requirement that the question of a tax levy be submitted to the electors shall not apply where the funds to be expended have been received as reparation for damage to the fairground caused by use thereof for military purposes, or as insurance proceeds received in payment for property damaged or destroyed by fire or any other cause.

Sec. 1711.16. When the control and management of a fairground is in a county agricultural society, and the board of county commissioners has appropriated an amount or levied a tax for the aid of such THE society as provided in section 1711.15 of the Revised Code, the society, with the consent of the board, may contract for the erection or repair of buildings or otherwise improve said site THE FAIRGROUND, to the extent that the payment for said THE improvement is provided by said THE board.

When such THE appropriation is made by the board or when such tax is collected by the county treasurer, the county auditor shall place the proceeds in a special fund, designated the "county agricultural society fund," indicating the purpose for which it is available, and on. ON application of the treasurer of the society, said THE auditor shall issue his AN order for the amount of such THE appropriation or tax to said THE treasurer of the society, if the society has secured the certificate required under section 1711.05 of the Revised Code, on said THE treasurer's filing with said THE auditor a bond in double the amount collected, with good and sufficient sureties approved by said THE auditor, conditioned for the satisfactory paying over and accounting of such THE funds for the purposes for which they were provided. Said THE funds shall remain in the special fund in which they are placed by said THE auditor until they are applied or by the treasurer of the society and such THE bond is given, or until they are expended by the board for the purposes for which said THE fund was created. If such THE society ceases to exist or releases said THE fund as not required for the purposes for which the fund was created, the board may by resolution transfer said THE fund to the general fund of the county.