To amend section 703.21 and to enact section 703.201 of the Revised Code to permit the board of county commissioners to dissolve a village under certain conditions.

Section 1. That section 703.21 be amended and section 703.201 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 703.201. (A) As used in this section, "condition for surrendering corporate powers" means any of the following:

(1) The village has been declared to be in a fiscal emergency under Chapter 118. of the Revised Code and has been in fiscal emergency for at least three consecutive years with little or no improvement on the conditions that caused the fiscal emergency declaration.

(2) The village has failed to properly follow applicable election laws for at least two consecutive election cycles for any one elected office in the village.

(3) The village has been declared during an audit conducted under section 117.11 of the Revised Code to be unauditable under section 117.41 of the Revised Code in at least two consecutive audits.

(4) The village does not provide at least two services typically provided by municipal government, such as police or fire protection, garbage collection, water or sewer service, emergency medical services, road maintenance, or similar services. "Services" does not include any administrative service or legislative action.

(5) The village has failed for any fiscal year to adopt the tax budget required by section 5705.28 of the Revised Code.

(6) A village elected official has been convicted of theft in office, either under section 2921.41 of the Revised Code or an equivalent criminal statute at the federal level, at least two times in a period of ten years. The convicted official with respect to those convictions may be the same person or different persons.

(B) If the auditor of state finds, in an audit report issued under division (A) or (B) of section 117.11 of the Revised Code of a village that has a population of one hundred persons or less per square mile and consists of less than two square miles, that the village meets at least two conditions for surrendering corporate powers, the auditor of state shall send a copy of the report together with a certified letter to the board of county commissioners of the county where the village is located. The letter shall inform the board of the auditor of state's findings relevant to the surrender of village corporate powers under this section and state that the board must vote on the question of the dissolution of the village in accordance with division (C) of this section. The report and letter shall be sent to the board within ten business days after the auditor of state's transmittal of the report to the village.

(C) Upon receipt of the auditor of state's report and certified letter, the board of county commissioners shall set a date for a vote on the surrender of the village's corporate powers. The date of the vote shall be within ninety days after the board's receipt of the report and letter. The clerk of the board shall deliver a notice of the date and time of the vote to the village clerk and to each clerk of a township located wholly or partly within the village, and, in addition, shall publish notice of the date and time of the vote in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, specifically identifying the village by name. The newspaper notice shall be published not later than thirty days before the scheduled date of the vote.

In order for the village to be dissolved, the board must first determine that the village has a population of one hundred persons or less per square mile and consists of less than two square miles, and that the auditor of state's report shows at least two conditions for surrendering corporate powers. If it so determines, the board shall vote on whether to dissolve the village. It must vote by a unanimous vote to cause the village to surrender its corporate powers.

If the board votes unanimously to have the village surrender its corporate powers, the village clerk shall certify the result of that vote to the secretary of state and the county recorder, who shall record it in their respective offices. Upon the recording in the county recorder's office, the corporate powers of the village shall cease.

(D) The procedure in this section is in addition to the procedure of section 703.20 of the Revised Code for the surrender of the corporate powers of a village.

Sec. 703.21.  The surrender of corporate powers by a village under section 703.20 or 703.201 of the Revised Code does not affect vested rights or accrued liabilities of the village, or the power to settle claims, dispose of property, or levy and collect taxes to pay existing obligations, but. But, after the presentation of the petition mentioned in that section 703.20 of the Revised Code or receipt of the audit report mentioned in section 703.201 of the Revised Code, the legislative authority of the village shall not create any new liability until the result of the election under section 703.20 of the Revised Code is declared or of the board of county commissioners' vote under section 703.201 of the Revised Code is declared, or thereafter, if the result, in either case, is in favor of for the surrender of the village's corporate powers. Due and unpaid taxes may be collected after the surrender, and all moneys or property remaining after the surrender belongs to the township or townships located wholly or partly within the village. If more than one township is to receive the remaining money or property, the money and property shall be divided among the townships in proportion to the amount of territory that each township has within the village boundaries as compared to the total township territory within the village.

Section 2. That existing section 703.21 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.