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Sub. H. B. No. 225 As Reported by the Senate Finance CommitteeAs Reported by the Senate Finance Committee
129th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2011-2012 |
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Representatives Peterson, Landis
Cosponsors:
Representatives Pillich, Grossman, Sears, Boose, Derickson, Carey, Thompson, Adams, J., Hayes, Stinziano, Ruhl, McClain, Balderson, Maag, Weddington, Brenner, Duffey, Baker, Schuring, Blair, McKenney, Adams, R., Amstutz, Anielski, Antonio, Barnes, Beck, Blessing, Bubp, Buchy, Carney, Damschroder, DeGeeter, Dovilla, Foley, Goodwin, Hackett, Hall, Henne, Hollington, Huffman, Letson, Mallory, Milkovich, Newbold, O'Brien, Ramos, Slaby, Sprague, Stebelton, Szollosi, Uecker, Yuko Speaker Batchelder
Senator Daniels
A BILL
To amend sections 9.37, 9.482, 135.01, 135.143,
135.35, 167.03, 305.171, 305.23, 307.862, 307.88,
329.01, 330.04, 349.01, 349.03, 349.04, 349.06,
349.14, 505.603, 3917.04, 4931.41, 4931.43,
4931.44, 4931.45, 4931.49, 4931.50, 4931.64,
4931.65, 4931.66, 5101.01, 5705.13, 5705.392,
5713.07, 5713.08, 5713.081, 5713.082, 5715.13,
5715.27, and 5717.02 and to enact sections 113.43,
148.061, 329.40, 329.41, 329.42, 329.43, 329.44,
329.45, and 329.46 of the Revised Code to vest in
county auditors responsibility for reviewing and
approving property tax exemption applications for
some publicly owned property, to authorize
legislative authorities of municipal corporations,
county auditors, and boards of township trustees
to adopt a direct deposit payroll policy, to
clarify that a board of township trustees may
offer deferred compensation plans or programs to
the township's officers and employees, to
authorize regional councils of government to
operate a 9-1-1 public safety answering point, to
authorize counties and townships to increase the
amount credited to "rainy day" reserve balance
accounts to one-sixth of the expenditures made in
the preceding fiscal year from the fund in which
the reserve balance account is established, to
authorize the Hocking, Ross, and Vinton Counties'
boards of county commissioners to form a pilot
joint county department of job and family
services, to modify state and county investment
authority law, to prohibit centralized-services
purchases using moneys from the Real Estate
Assessment Fund, to exempt funds subject to the
Tax Commissioner's rules governing expenditures
from the Real Estate Assessment Fund from county
quarterly spending plans, to limit the involvement
of county officers and their responsibilities in
intergovernmental shared services agreements, to
authorize county contracting authorities to give
notice of requests for proposals and receive
proposals through a secure electronic system, to
permit tax complaints to be filed electronically,
to authorize a county or township to offer any
qualified benefit available under a cafeteria
plan, and to offer a health and wellness benefit
program, to its officers and employees, and to
make changes to the New Community Authority Law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 9.37, 9.482, 135.01, 135.143,
135.35, 167.03, 305.171, 305.23, 307.862, 307.88, 329.01, 330.04,
349.01, 349.03, 349.04, 349.06, 349.14, 505.603, 3917.04, 4931.41,
4931.43, 4931.44, 4931.45, 4931.49, 4931.50, 4931.64, 4931.65,
4931.66, 5101.01, 5705.13, 5705.392, 5713.07, 5713.08, 5713.081,
5713.082, 5715.13, 5715.27, and 5717.02 be amended and sections
113.43, 148.061, 329.40, 329.41, 329.42, 329.43, 329.44, 329.45,
and 329.46 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 9.37. (A) As used in this section, "public official"
means any elected or appointed officer, employee, or agent of the
state, any state institution of higher education, any political
subdivision, board, commission, bureau, or other public body
established by law. "State institution of higher education" means
any state university or college as defined in division (A)(1) of
section 3345.12 of the Revised Code, community college, state
community college, university branch, or technical college.
(B) Except as provided in division divisions (F) and (G) of
this section, any public official may make by direct deposit of
funds by electronic transfer, if the payee provides a written
authorization designating a financial institution and an account
number to which the payment is to be credited, any payment such
public official is permitted or required by law in the performance
of official duties to make by issuing a check or warrant.
(C) Such public official may contract with a financial
institution for the services necessary to make direct deposits and
draw lump-sum checks or warrants payable to that institution in
the amount of the payments to be transferred.
(D) Before making any direct deposit as authorized under this
section, the public official shall ascertain that the account from
which the payment is to be made contains sufficient funds to cover
the amount of the payment.
(E) If the issuance of checks and warrants by a public
official requires authorization by a governing board, commission,
bureau, or other public body having jurisdiction over the public
official, the public official may only make direct deposits and
contracts under this section pursuant to a resolution of
authorization duly adopted by such governing board, commission,
bureau, or other public body.
(F) Pursuant to sections 307.55, 319.16, and 321.15 of the
Revised Code, a county auditor may issue, and a county treasurer
may redeem, electronic warrants authorizing direct deposit for
payment of county obligations in accordance with rules adopted by
the director of budget and management pursuant to Chapter 119. of
the Revised Code.
(G) The legislative authority of a municipal corporation, for
employees of the municipal corporation, a county auditor, for
county employees, or a board of township trustees, for township
employees, may adopt a direct deposit payroll policy under which
all employees of the municipal corporation, all county employees,
or all township employees, as the case may be, provide a written
authorization designating a financial institution and an account
number to which payment of the employee's compensation shall be
credited under the municipal corporation's, county's, or
township's direct deposit payroll policy. The direct deposit
payroll policy adopted by the legislative authority of a municipal
corporation, a county auditor, or a board of township trustees may
exempt from the direct deposit requirement those municipal,
county, or township employees who cannot provide an account
number, or for other reasons specified in the policy. The written
authorization is not a public record under section 149.43 of the
Revised Code.
Sec. 9.482. (A) As used in this section, "political
subdivision" has the meaning defined in section 2744.01 of the
Revised Code.
(B) When authorized by their respective legislative
authorities, a political subdivision may enter into an agreement
with another political subdivision whereby a contracting political
subdivision agrees to exercise any power, perform any function, or
render any service for another contracting recipient political
subdivision that the contracting recipient political subdivision
is otherwise legally authorized to exercise, perform, or render.
In the absence in the agreement of provisions determining by
what officer, office, department, agency, or other authority the
powers and duties of a contracting political subdivision shall be
exercised or performed, the legislative authority of the
contracting political subdivision shall determine and assign the
powers and duties.
An agreement shall not suspend the possession by a
contracting recipient political subdivision of any power or
function that is exercised or performed on its behalf by another
contracting political subdivision under the agreement.
A political subdivision shall not enter into an agreement to
levy any tax or to exercise, with regard to public moneys, any
investment powers, perform any investment function, or render any
investment service on behalf of a contracting subdivision. Nothing
in this paragraph prohibits a political subdivision from entering
into an agreement to collect, administer, or enforce any tax on
behalf of another political subdivision or to limit the authority
of political subdivisions to create and operate joint economic
development zones or joint economic development districts as
provided in sections 715.69 to 715.83 of the Revised Code.
(C) No county elected officer may be required to exercise any
power, perform any function, or render any service under an
agreement entered into under this section without the written
consent of the county elected officer. No county may enter into an
agreement under this section for the exercise, performance, or
rendering of any statutory powers, functions, or services of any
county elected officer without the written consent of the county
elected officer.
(D) No power shall be exercised, no function shall be
performed, and no service shall be rendered by a contracting
political subdivision pursuant to an agreement entered into under
this section within a political subdivision that is not a party to
the agreement, without first obtaining the written consent of the
political subdivision that is not a party to the agreement and
within which the power is to be exercised, a function is to be
performed, or a service is to be rendered.
(D)(E) Chapter 2744. of the Revised Code, insofar as it
applies to the operation of a political subdivision, applies to
the political subdivisions that are parties to an agreement and to
their employees when they are rendering a service outside the
boundaries of their employing political subdivision under the
agreement. Employees acting outside the boundaries of their
employing political subdivision while providing a service under an
agreement may participate in any pension or indemnity fund
established by the political subdivision to the same extent as
while they are acting within the boundaries of the political
subdivision, and are entitled to all the rights and benefits of
Chapter 4123. of the Revised Code to the same extent as while they
are performing a service within the boundaries of the political
subdivision.
Sec. 113.43. The treasurer of state shall make available to
the public, on the treasurer of state's internet web site, the
county investment advisory committee reports prepared under
division (L) of section 135.35 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 135.01. Except as otherwise provided in sections
135.14, 135.143, and 135.181 of the Revised Code, as used in
sections 135.01 to 135.21 of the Revised Code:
(A) "Active deposit" means a public deposit necessary to meet
current demands on the treasury, and that is deposited in any of
the following:
(1) A commercial account that is payable or withdrawable, in
whole or in part, on demand;
(2) A negotiable order of withdrawal account as authorized in
the "Consumer Checking Account Equity Act of 1980," 94 Stat. 146,
12 U.S.C.A. 1832(a);
(3) A money market deposit account as authorized in the
"Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982," 96 Stat.
1501, 12 U.S.C. 3503.
(B) "Auditor" includes the auditor of state and the auditor,
or officer exercising the functions of an auditor, of any
subdivision.
(C) "Capital funds" means the sum of the following: the par
value of the outstanding common capital stock, the par value of
the outstanding preferred capital stock, the aggregate par value
of all outstanding capital notes and debentures, and the surplus.
In the case of an institution having offices in more than one
county, the capital funds of such institution, for the purposes of
sections 135.01 to 135.21 of the Revised Code, relative to the
deposit of the public moneys of the subdivisions in one such
county, shall be considered to be that proportion of the capital
funds of the institution that is represented by the ratio that the
deposit liabilities of such institution originating at the office
located in the county bears to the total deposit liabilities of
the institution.
(D) "Governing board" means, in the case of the state, the
state board of deposit; in the case of all school districts and
educational service centers except as otherwise provided in this
section, the board of education or governing board of a service
center, and when the case so requires, the board of commissioners
of the sinking fund; in the case of a municipal corporation, the
legislative authority, and when the case so requires, the board of
trustees of the sinking fund; in the case of a township, the board
of township trustees; in the case of a union or joint institution
or enterprise of two or more subdivisions not having a treasurer,
the board of directors or trustees thereof; and in the case of any
other subdivision electing or appointing a treasurer, the
directors, trustees, or other similar officers of such
subdivision. The governing board of a subdivision electing or
appointing a treasurer shall be the governing board of all other
subdivisions for which such treasurer is authorized by law to act.
In the case of a county school financing district that levies a
tax pursuant to section 5705.215 of the Revised Code, the county
board of education that serves as its taxing authority shall
operate as a governing board. Any other county board of education
shall operate as a governing board unless it adopts a resolution
designating the board of county commissioners as the governing
board for the county school district.
(E) "Inactive deposit" means a public deposit other than an
interim deposit or an active deposit.
(F) "Interim deposit" means a deposit of interim moneys.
"Interim moneys" means public moneys in the treasury of the state
or any subdivision after the award of inactive deposits has been
made in accordance with section 135.07 of the Revised Code, which
moneys are in excess of the aggregate amount of the inactive
deposits as estimated by the governing board prior to the period
of designation and which the treasurer or governing board finds
should not be deposited as active or inactive deposits for the
reason that such moneys will not be needed for immediate use but
will be needed before the end of the period of designation.
(G) "Permissible rate of interest" means a rate of interest
that all eligible institutions mentioned in section 135.03 of the
Revised Code are permitted to pay by law or valid regulations.
(H) "Warrant clearance account" means an account established
by the treasurer of state for the deposit of active state moneys
outside the city of Columbus, such account being for the exclusive
purpose of clearing state warrants through the banking system to
the treasurer.
(I) "Public deposit" means public moneys deposited in a
public depository pursuant to sections 135.01 to 135.21 of the
Revised Code.
(J) "Public depository" means an institution which receives
or holds any public deposits.
(K) "Public moneys" means all moneys in the treasury of the
state or any subdivision of the state, or moneys coming lawfully
into the possession or custody of the treasurer of state or of the
treasurer of any subdivision. "Public moneys of the state"
includes all such moneys coming lawfully into the possession of
the treasurer of state; and "public moneys of a subdivision"
includes all such moneys coming lawfully into the possession of
the treasurer of the subdivision.
(L) "Subdivision" means any municipal corporation, except one
which has adopted a charter under Article XVIII, Ohio
Constitution, and the charter or ordinances of the chartered
municipal corporation set forth special provisions respecting the
deposit or investment of its public moneys, or any school district
or educational service center, a county school financing district,
township, municipal or school district sinking fund, special
taxing or assessment district, or other district or local
authority electing or appointing a treasurer, except a county. In
the case of a school district or educational service center,
special taxing or assessment district, or other local authority
for which a treasurer, elected or appointed primarily as the
treasurer of a subdivision, is authorized or required by law to
act as ex officio treasurer, the subdivision for which such a
treasurer has been primarily elected or appointed shall be
considered to be the "subdivision." The term also includes a union
or joint institution or enterprise of two or more subdivisions,
that is not authorized to elect or appoint a treasurer, and for
which no ex officio treasurer is provided by law.
(M) "Treasurer" means, in the case of the state, the
treasurer of state and in the case of any subdivision, the
treasurer, or officer exercising the functions of a treasurer, of
such subdivision. In the case of a board of trustees of the
sinking fund of a municipal corporation, the board of
commissioners of the sinking fund of a school district, or a board
of directors or trustees of any union or joint institution or
enterprise of two or more subdivisions not having a treasurer,
such term means such board of trustees of the sinking fund, board
of commissioners of the sinking fund, or board of directors or
trustees.
(N) "Treasury investment board" of a municipal corporation
means the mayor or other chief executive officer, the village
solicitor or city director of law, and the auditor or other chief
fiscal officer.
(O) "No-load money market mutual fund" means a no-load money
market mutual fund to which all of the following apply:
(1) The fund is registered as an investment company under the
"Investment Company Act of 1940," 54 Stat. 789, 15 U.S.C.A. 80a-1
to 80a-64;
(2) The fund has the highest letter or numerical rating
provided by at least one nationally recognized standard rating
service;
(3) The fund does not include any investment in a derivative.
As used in division (O)(3) of this section, "derivative" means a
financial instrument or contract or obligation whose value or
return is based upon or linked to another asset or index, or both,
separate from the financial instrument, contract, or obligation
itself. Any security, obligation, trust account, or other
instrument that is created from an issue of the United States
treasury or is created from an obligation of a federal agency or
instrumentality or is created from both is considered a derivative
instrument. An eligible investment described in section 135.14 or
135.35 of the Revised Code with a variable interest rate payment,
based upon a single interest payment or single index comprised of
other investments provided for in division (B)(1) or (2) of
section 135.14 of the Revised Code, is not a derivative, provided
that such variable rate investment has a maximum maturity of two
years.
Sec. 135.143. (A) The treasurer of state may invest or
execute transactions for any part or all of the interim funds of
the state in the following classifications of obligations:
(1) United States treasury bills, notes, bonds, or any other
obligations or securities issued by the United States treasury or
any other obligation guaranteed as to principal and interest by
the United States;
(2) Bonds, notes, debentures, or any other obligations or
securities issued by any federal government agency or
instrumentality;
(3) Bonds and other direct obligations of the state of Ohio
issued by the treasurer of state and of the Ohio public facilities
commission, the Ohio building authority, and the Ohio housing
finance agency;
(4)(a) Written repurchase agreements with any eligible Ohio
financial institution that is a member of the federal reserve
system or federal home loan bank or any recognized United States
government securities dealer, under the terms of which agreement
the treasurer of state purchases and the eligible financial
institution or dealer agrees unconditionally to repurchase any of
the securities that are listed in division (A)(1), (2), or (6) of
this section and that will mature or are redeemable within ten
years from the date of purchase. The market value of securities
subject to these transactions must exceed the principal value of
the repurchase agreement by an amount specified by the treasurer
of state, and the securities must be delivered into the custody of
the treasurer of state or the qualified trustee or agent
designated by the treasurer of state. The agreement shall contain
the requirement that for each transaction pursuant to the
agreement, the participating institution or dealer shall provide
all of the following information:
(i) The par value of the securities;
(ii) The type, rate, and maturity date of the securities;
(iii) A numerical identifier generally accepted in the
securities industry that designates the securities.
(b) The treasurer of state also may sell any securities,
listed in division (A)(1), (2), or (6) of this section, regardless
of maturity or time of redemption of the securities, under the
same terms and conditions for repurchase, provided that the
securities have been fully paid for and are owned by the treasurer
of state at the time of the sale.
(5) Securities lending agreements with any eligible financial
institution that is a member of the federal reserve system or
federal home loan bank or any recognized United States government
securities dealer, under the terms of which agreements the
treasurer of state lends securities and the eligible financial
institution or dealer agrees to simultaneously exchange similar
securities or cash, equal value for equal value.
Securities and cash received as collateral for a securities
lending agreement are not interim funds of the state. The
investment of cash collateral received pursuant to a securities
lending agreement may be invested only in such instruments
specified by the treasurer of state in accordance with a written
investment policy.
(6) Various forms of commercial paper issued by any
corporation that is incorporated under the laws of the United
States or a state, which notes are rated at the time of purchase
in the two highest categories by two nationally recognized rating
agencies, provided that the total amount invested under this
section in any commercial paper at any time shall not exceed
twenty-five per cent of the state's total average portfolio, as
determined and calculated by the treasurer of state;
(7) Bankers acceptances, maturing in two hundred seventy days
or less, which are eligible for purchase by the federal reserve
system, provided that the total amount invested in bankers
acceptances at any time shall not exceed ten per cent of the
state's total average portfolio, as determined and calculated by
the treasurer of state;
(8) Certificates of deposit in eligible institutions applying
for interim moneys as provided in section 135.08 of the Revised
Code, including linked deposits as provided in sections 135.61 to
135.67 of the Revised Code, agricultural linked deposits as
provided in sections 135.71 to 135.76 of the Revised Code, and
housing linked deposits as provided in sections 135.81 to 135.87
of the Revised Code;
(9) The state treasurer's investment pool authorized under
section 135.45 of the Revised Code;
(10) Debt interests, other than commercial paper described in
division (A)(6) of this section, rated at the time of purchase in
the three highest categories by two nationally recognized rating
agencies and issued by corporations that are incorporated under
the laws of the United States or a state, or issued by foreign
nations diplomatically recognized by the United States government,
or any instrument based on, derived from, or related to such
interests, provided that:
(a) The investments in debt interests shall not exceed in the
aggregate twenty-five per cent of the state's portfolio;
(b) The investments in debt interests issued by foreign
nations shall not exceed in the aggregate one per cent of the
state's portfolio;
(c) The investments in the debt interests of a single issuer
shall not exceed in the aggregate one-half of one per cent of the
state's portfolio, except that debt interests of a single issuer
that is a foreign nation shall not exceed in the aggregate one per
cent of the state's portfolio.
The treasurer of state shall invest under division (A)(10) of
this section in a debt interest issued by a foreign nation only if
the debt interest is backed by the full faith and credit of that
foreign nation, and provided that all interest and principal shall
be denominated and payable in United States funds.
For purposes of division (A)(10) of this section, a debt
interest is rated in the three highest categories by two
nationally recognized rating agencies if either the debt interest
itself or the issuer of the debt interest is rated, or is
implicitly rated, at the time of purchase in the three highest
categories by two nationally recognized rating agencies.
For purposes of division (A)(10) of this section, the
"state's portfolio" means the state's total average portfolio, as
determined and calculated by the treasurer of state.
(11) No-load money market mutual funds consisting exclusively
of obligations described in division (A)(1), (2), or (6) of this
section and repurchase agreements secured by such obligations.
(12) Obligations of a board of education issued under
authority of section 133.10 or 133.301 political subdivision
issued under Chapter 133. of the Revised Code and identified in an
agreement described in division (G) of this section.
(B) Whenever, during a period of designation, the treasurer
of state classifies public moneys as interim moneys, the treasurer
of state shall notify the state board of deposit of such action.
The notification shall be given within thirty days after such
classification and, in the event the state board of deposit does
not concur in such classification or in the investments or
deposits made under this section, the board may order the
treasurer of state to sell or liquidate any of the investments or
deposits, and any such order shall specifically describe the
investments or deposits and fix the date upon which they are to be
sold or liquidated. Investments or deposits so ordered to be sold
or liquidated shall be sold or liquidated for cash by the
treasurer of state on the date fixed in such order at the then
current market price. Neither the treasurer of state nor the
members of the state board of deposit shall be held accountable
for any loss occasioned by sales or liquidations of investments or
deposits at prices lower than their cost. Any loss or expense
incurred in making these sales or liquidations is payable as other
expenses of the treasurer's office.
(C) If any securities or obligations invested in by the
treasurer of state pursuant to this section are registrable either
as to principal or interest, or both, such securities or
obligations shall be registered in the name of the treasurer of
state.
(D) The treasurer of state is responsible for the safekeeping
of all securities or obligations under this section. Any such
securities or obligations may be deposited for safekeeping as
provided in section 113.05 of the Revised Code.
(E) Interest earned on any investments or deposits authorized
by this section shall be collected by the treasurer of state and
credited by the treasurer of state to the proper fund of the
state.
(F) Whenever investments or deposits acquired under this
section mature and become due and payable, the treasurer of state
shall present them for payment according to their tenor, and shall
collect the moneys payable thereon. The moneys so collected shall
be treated as public moneys subject to sections 135.01 to 135.21
of the Revised Code.
(G) The treasurer of state and any board of education
political subdivision issuing obligations referred to in division
(A)(12) of this section, which obligations mature within one year
from the original date of issuance, may enter into an agreement
providing for:
(1) The purchase of those obligations by the treasurer of
state on terms and subject to conditions set forth in the
agreement;
(2) The payment by the board of education political
subdivision to the treasurer of state of a reasonable fee as
consideration for the agreement of the treasurer of state to
purchase those obligations; provided, however, that the treasurer
of state shall not be authorized to enter into any such agreement
with the a board of education of a school district that has an
outstanding obligation with respect to a loan received under
authority of section 3313.483 of the Revised Code.
(H) For purposes of division (G) of this section, a fee shall
not be considered reasonable unless it is set to recover only the
direct costs and, a reasonable estimate of the indirect costs
associated with the purchasing of obligations of a school board
political subdivision under division (G) of this section and any
reselling of the obligations or any interest in the obligations,
including interests in a fund comprised of the obligations, and
the administration thereof. No money from the general revenue fund
shall be used to subsidize the purchase or resale of these
obligations.
(I) All money collected by the treasurer of state from the
fee imposed by division (G) of this section shall be deposited to
the credit of the state school board political subdivision
obligations fund, which is hereby created in the state treasury.
Money credited to the fund shall be used solely to pay the
treasurer of state's direct and indirect costs associated with
purchasing and reselling obligations of a board of education
political subdivision under division (G) of this section.
(J) As used in this section, "political subdivision" means a
county, township, municipal corporation, or board of education of
a school district.
Sec. 135.35. (A) The investing authority shall deposit or
invest any part or all of the county's inactive moneys and shall
invest all of the money in the county public library fund when
required by section 135.352 of the Revised Code. The following
classifications of securities and obligations are eligible for
such deposit or investment:
(1) United States treasury bills, notes, bonds, or any other
obligation or security issued by the United States treasury, any
other obligation guaranteed as to principal or interest by the
United States, or any book entry, zero-coupon United States
treasury security that is a direct obligation of the United
States.
Nothing in the classification of eligible securities and
obligations set forth in divisions (A)(2) to (11) of this section
shall be construed to authorize any investment in stripped
principal or interest obligations of such eligible securities and
obligations.
(2) Bonds, notes, debentures, or any other obligations or
securities issued by any federal government agency or
instrumentality, including but not limited to, the federal
national mortgage association, federal home loan bank, federal
farm credit bank, federal home loan mortgage corporation,
government national mortgage association, and student loan
marketing association. All federal agency securities shall be
direct issuances of federal government agencies or
instrumentalities.
(3) Time certificates of deposit or savings or deposit
accounts, including, but not limited to, passbook accounts, in any
eligible institution mentioned in section 135.32 of the Revised
Code;
(4) Bonds and other obligations of this state or the
political subdivisions of this state, provided that such political
subdivisions are located wholly or partly within the same county
as the investing authority;
(5) No-load money market mutual funds consisting exclusively
of obligations described in division (A)(1) or (2) of this section
and repurchase agreements secured by such obligations, provided
that investments in securities described in this division are made
only through eligible institutions mentioned in section 135.32 of
the Revised Code;
(6) The Ohio subdivision's fund as provided in section 135.45
of the Revised Code;
(7) Securities lending agreements with any eligible
institution mentioned in section 135.32 of the Revised Code that
is a member of the federal reserve system or federal home loan
bank or with any recognized United States government securities
dealer meeting the description in division (J)(1) of this section,
under the terms of which agreements the investing authority lends
securities and the eligible institution or dealer agrees to
simultaneously exchange similar securities or cash, equal value
for equal value.
Securities and cash received as collateral for a securities
lending agreement are not inactive moneys of the county or moneys
of a county public library fund. The investment of cash collateral
received pursuant to a securities lending agreement may be
invested only in instruments specified by the investing authority
in the written investment policy described in division (K) of this
section.
(8) Up to twenty-five per cent of the county's total average
portfolio in either of the following investments:
(a) Commercial paper notes issued by an entity that is
defined in division (D) of section 1705.01 of the Revised Code and
that has assets exceeding five hundred million dollars, to which
notes all of the following apply:
(i) The notes are rated at the time of purchase in the
highest classification established by at least two nationally
recognized standard rating services.
(ii) The aggregate value of the notes does not exceed ten per
cent of the aggregate value of the outstanding commercial paper of
the issuing corporation.
(iii) The notes mature not later than two hundred seventy
days after purchase.
(b) Bankers acceptances of banks that are insured by the
federal deposit insurance corporation and to which both of the
following apply:
(i) The obligations are eligible for purchase by the federal
reserve system.
(ii) The obligations mature not later than one hundred eighty
days after purchase.
No investment shall be made pursuant to division (A)(8) of
this section unless the investing authority has completed
additional training for making the investments authorized by
division (A)(8) of this section. The type and amount of additional
training shall be approved by the auditor of state and may be
conducted by or provided under the supervision of the auditor of
state.
(9) Up to fifteen per cent of the county's total average
portfolio in notes issued by corporations that are incorporated
under the laws of the United States and that are operating within
the United States, or by depository institutions that are doing
business under authority granted by the United States or any state
and that are operating within the United States, provided both of
the following apply:
(a) The notes are rated in the second highest or higher
category by at least two nationally recognized standard rating
services at the time of purchase.
(b) The notes mature not later than two years after purchase.
(10) No-load money market mutual funds rated in the highest
category at the time of purchase by at least one nationally
recognized standard rating service and consisting exclusively of
obligations described in division (A)(1), (2), or (6) of section
135.143 of the Revised Code;
(11) Debt interests rated at the time of purchase in the
three highest categories by two nationally recognized standard
rating services and issued by foreign nations diplomatically
recognized by the United States government. All interest and
principal shall be denominated and payable in United States funds.
The investments made under division (A)(11) of this section shall
not exceed in the aggregate one per cent of a county's total
average portfolio.
The investing authority shall invest under division (A)(11)
of this section in a debt interest issued by a foreign nation only
if the debt interest is backed by the full faith and credit of
that foreign nation, there is no prior history of default, and the
debt interest matures not later than five years after purchase.
For purposes of division (A)(11) of this section, a debt interest
is rated in the three highest categories by two nationally
recognized standard rating services if either the debt interest
itself or the issuer of the debt interest is rated, or is
implicitly rated, at the time of purchase in the three highest
categories by two nationally recognized standard rating services.
(12) A current unpaid or delinquent tax line of credit
authorized under division (G) of section 135.341 of the Revised
Code, provided that all of the conditions for entering into such a
line of credit under that division are satisfied, or bonds and
other obligations of a county land reutilization corporation
organized under Chapter 1724. of the Revised Code, if the county
land reutilization corporation is located wholly or partly within
the same county as the investing authority.
(B) Nothing in the classifications of eligible obligations
and securities set forth in divisions (A)(1) to (11) of this
section shall be construed to authorize investment in a
derivative, and no investing authority shall invest any county
inactive moneys or any moneys in a county public library fund in a
derivative. For purposes of this division, "derivative" means a
financial instrument or contract or obligation whose value or
return is based upon or linked to another asset or index, or both,
separate from the financial instrument, contract, or obligation
itself. Any security, obligation, trust account, or other
instrument that is created from an issue of the United States
treasury or is created from an obligation of a federal agency or
instrumentality or is created from both is considered a derivative
instrument. An eligible investment described in this section with
a variable interest rate payment, based upon a single interest
payment or single index comprised of other eligible investments
provided for in division (A)(1) or (2) of this section, is not a
derivative, provided that such variable rate investment has a
maximum maturity of two years. A treasury inflation-protected
security shall not be considered a derivative, provided the
security matures not later than five years after purchase.
(C) Except as provided in division divisions (D) and (O) of
this section, any investment made pursuant to this section must
mature within five ten years from the date of settlement, unless
the investment is matched to a specific obligation or debt of the
county or to a specific obligation or debt of a political
subdivision of this state located wholly or partly within the
county, and the investment is specifically approved by the
investment advisory committee.
(D) The investing authority may also enter into a written
repurchase agreement with any eligible institution mentioned in
section 135.32 of the Revised Code or any eligible securities
dealer pursuant to division (J) of this section, under the terms
of which agreement the investing authority purchases and the
eligible institution or dealer agrees unconditionally to
repurchase any of the securities listed in divisions (B)(1) to
(5), except letters of credit described in division (B)(2), of
section 135.18 of the Revised Code. The market value of securities
subject to an overnight written repurchase agreement must exceed
the principal value of the overnight written repurchase agreement
by at least two per cent. A written repurchase agreement must
exceed the principal value of the overnight written repurchase
agreement, by at least two per cent. A written repurchase
agreement shall not exceed thirty days, and the market value of
securities subject to a written repurchase agreement must exceed
the principal value of the written repurchase agreement by at
least two per cent and be marked to market daily. All securities
purchased pursuant to this division shall be delivered into the
custody of the investing authority or the qualified custodian of
the investing authority or an agent designated by the investing
authority. A written repurchase agreement with an eligible
securities dealer shall be transacted on a delivery versus payment
basis. The agreement shall contain the requirement that for each
transaction pursuant to the agreement the participating
institution shall provide all of the following information:
(1) The par value of the securities;
(2) The type, rate, and maturity date of the securities;
(3) A numerical identifier generally accepted in the
securities industry that designates the securities.
No investing authority shall enter into a written repurchase
agreement under the terms of which the investing authority agrees
to sell securities owned by the county to a purchaser and agrees
with that purchaser to unconditionally repurchase those
securities.
(E) No investing authority shall make an investment under
this section, unless the investing authority, at the time of
making the investment, reasonably expects that the investment can
be held until its maturity. The investing authority's written
investment policy shall specify the conditions under which an
investment may be redeemed or sold prior to maturity.
(F) No investing authority shall pay a county's inactive
moneys or moneys of a county public library fund into a fund
established by another subdivision, treasurer, governing board, or
investing authority, if that fund was established by the
subdivision, treasurer, governing board, or investing authority
for the purpose of investing or depositing the public moneys of
other subdivisions. This division does not apply to the payment of
public moneys into either of the following:
(1) The Ohio subdivision's fund pursuant to division (A)(6)
of this section;
(2) A fund created solely for the purpose of acquiring,
constructing, owning, leasing, or operating municipal utilities
pursuant to the authority provided under section 715.02 of the
Revised Code or Section 4 of Article XVIII, Ohio Constitution.
For purposes of division (F) of this section, "subdivision"
includes a county.
(G) The use of leverage, in which the county uses its current
investment assets as collateral for the purpose of purchasing
other assets, is prohibited. The issuance of taxable notes for the
purpose of arbitrage is prohibited. Contracting to sell securities
not owned by the county, for the purpose of purchasing such
securities on the speculation that bond prices will decline, is
prohibited.
(H) Any securities, certificates of deposit, deposit
accounts, or any other documents evidencing deposits or
investments made under authority of this section shall be issued
in the name of the county with the county treasurer or investing
authority as the designated payee. If any such deposits or
investments are registrable either as to principal or interest, or
both, they shall be registered in the name of the treasurer.
(I) The investing authority shall be responsible for the
safekeeping of all documents evidencing a deposit or investment
acquired under this section, including, but not limited to,
safekeeping receipts evidencing securities deposited with a
qualified trustee, as provided in section 135.37 of the Revised
Code, and documents confirming the purchase of securities under
any repurchase agreement under this section shall be deposited
with a qualified trustee, provided, however, that the qualified
trustee shall be required to report to the investing authority,
auditor of state, or an authorized outside auditor at any time
upon request as to the identity, market value, and location of the
document evidencing each security, and that if the participating
institution is a designated depository of the county for the
current period of designation, the securities that are the subject
of the repurchase agreement may be delivered to the treasurer or
held in trust by the participating institution on behalf of the
investing authority.
Upon the expiration of the term of office of an investing
authority or in the event of a vacancy in the office for any
reason, the officer or the officer's legal representative shall
transfer and deliver to the officer's successor all documents
mentioned in this division for which the officer has been
responsible for safekeeping. For all such documents transferred
and delivered, the officer shall be credited with, and the
officer's successor shall be charged with, the amount of moneys
evidenced by such documents.
(J)(1) All investments, except for investments in securities
described in divisions (A)(5), (6), and (12) of this section,
shall be made only through a member of the national association of
securities dealers, through a bank, savings bank, or savings and
loan association regulated by the superintendent of financial
institutions, or through an institution regulated by the
comptroller of the currency, federal deposit insurance
corporation, or board of governors of the federal reserve system.
(2) Payment for investments shall be made only upon the
delivery of securities representing such investments to the
treasurer, investing authority, or qualified trustee. If the
securities transferred are not represented by a certificate,
payment shall be made only upon receipt of confirmation of
transfer from the custodian by the treasurer, governing board, or
qualified trustee.
(K)(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (K)(2) of
this section, no investing authority shall make an investment or
deposit under this section, unless there is on file with the
auditor of state a written investment policy approved by the
investing authority. The policy shall require that all entities
conducting investment business with the investing authority shall
sign the investment policy of that investing authority. All
brokers, dealers, and financial institutions, described in
division (J)(1) of this section, initiating transactions with the
investing authority by giving advice or making investment
recommendations shall sign the investing authority's investment
policy thereby acknowledging their agreement to abide by the
policy's contents. All brokers, dealers, and financial
institutions, described in division (J)(1) of this section,
executing transactions initiated by the investing authority,
having read the policy's contents, shall sign the investment
policy thereby acknowledging their comprehension and receipt.
(2) If a written investment policy described in division
(K)(1) of this section is not filed on behalf of the county with
the auditor of state, the investing authority of that county shall
invest the county's inactive moneys and moneys of the county
public library fund only in time certificates of deposits or
savings or deposit accounts pursuant to division (A)(3) of this
section, no-load money market mutual funds pursuant to division
(A)(5) of this section, or the Ohio subdivision's fund pursuant to
division (A)(6) of this section.
(L)(1) The investing authority shall establish and maintain
an inventory of all obligations and securities acquired by the
investing authority pursuant to this section. The inventory shall
include a description of each obligation or security, including
type, cost, par value, maturity date, settlement date, and any
coupon rate.
(2) The investing authority shall also keep a complete record
of all purchases and sales of the obligations and securities made
pursuant to this section.
(3) The investing authority shall maintain a monthly
portfolio report and issue a copy of the monthly portfolio report
describing such investments to the county investment advisory
committee, detailing the current inventory of all obligations and
securities, all transactions during the month that affected the
inventory, any income received from the obligations and
securities, and any investment expenses paid, and stating the
names of any persons effecting transactions on behalf of the
investing authority.
(4) The monthly portfolio report shall be a public record and
available for inspection under section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
(5) The inventory and the monthly portfolio report shall be
filed with the board of county commissioners. The monthly
portfolio report also shall be filed with the treasurer of state.
(M) An investing authority may enter into a written
investment or deposit agreement that includes a provision under
which the parties agree to submit to nonbinding arbitration to
settle any controversy that may arise out of the agreement,
including any controversy pertaining to losses of public moneys
resulting from investment or deposit. The arbitration provision
shall be set forth entirely in the agreement, and the agreement
shall include a conspicuous notice to the parties that any party
to the arbitration may apply to the court of common pleas of the
county in which the arbitration was held for an order to vacate,
modify, or correct the award. Any such party may also apply to the
court for an order to change venue to a court of common pleas
located more than one hundred miles from the county in which the
investing authority is located.
For purposes of this division, "investment or deposit
agreement" means any agreement between an investing authority and
a person, under which agreement the person agrees to invest,
deposit, or otherwise manage, on behalf of the investing
authority, a county's inactive moneys or moneys in a county public
library fund, or agrees to provide investment advice to the
investing authority.
(N) An investment held in the county portfolio on September
27, 1996, that was a legal investment under the law as it existed
before September 27, 1996, may be held until maturity, or if the
investment does not have a maturity date the investment may be
held until five years from September 27, 1996, regardless of
whether the investment would qualify as a legal investment under
the terms of this section as amended.
(O) Upon a majority affirmative vote of the county investment
advisory committee in support of such action, an investment
authority may invest up to twenty-five per cent of the county's
total average portfolio of investments made under this section in
securities and obligations that mature on a date that is more than
ten years from the date of settlement.
Sec. 148.061. In addition to the program of deferred
compensation that may be offered under this chapter, a board of
township trustees may offer to all of the officers and employees
of the township plans or programs for deferring compensation
designed for favorable tax treatment of the compensation so
deferred. A plan or program shall present a reasonable number of
options to the township's officers and employees for the
investment of the deferred funds that will assure the desired tax
treatment of the funds.
Any income deferred under a plan or program shall continue to
be included as regular compensation for the purpose of computing
the contributions to and benefits from each officer's or
employee's retirement system, but shall not be included in the
computation of any federal and state income taxes withheld on
behalf of the officer or employee.
Sec. 167.03. (A) The council shall have the power to:
(1) Study such area governmental problems common to two or
more members of the council as it deems appropriate, including but
not limited to matters affecting health, safety, welfare,
education, economic conditions, and regional development;
(2) Promote cooperative arrangements and coordinate action
among its members, and between its members and other agencies of
local or state governments, whether or not within Ohio, and the
federal government;
(3) Make recommendations for review and action to the members
and other public agencies that perform functions within the
region;
(4) Promote cooperative agreements and contracts among its
members or other governmental agencies and private persons,
corporations, or agencies;
(5) Operate a public safety answering point in accordance
with sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised Code;
(6) Perform planning directly by personnel of the council, or
under contracts between the council and other public or private
planning agencies.
(1) Review, evaluate, comment upon, and make recommendations,
relative to the planning and programming, and the location,
financing, and scheduling of public facility projects within the
region and affecting the development of the area;
(2) Act as an areawide agency to perform comprehensive
planning for the programming, locating, financing, and scheduling
of public facility projects within the region and affecting the
development of the area and for other proposed land development or
uses, which projects or uses have public metropolitan wide or
interjurisdictional significance;
(3) Act as an agency for coordinating, based on metropolitan
wide comprehensive planning and programming, local public
policies, and activities affecting the development of the region
or area.
(C) The council may, by appropriate action of the governing
bodies of the members, perform such other functions and duties as
are performed or capable of performance by the members and
necessary or desirable for dealing with problems of mutual
concern.
(D) The authority granted to the council by this section or
in any agreement by the members thereof shall not displace any
existing municipal, county, regional, or other planning commission
or planning agency in the exercise of its statutory powers.
Sec. 305.171. The following applies until the department of
administrative services implements for counties the health care
plans under section 9.901 of the Revised Code. If those plans do
not include or address any benefits listed in division (A) of this
section, the following provisions continue in effect for those
benefits.
(A) The board of county commissioners of any county may
contract for, purchase, or otherwise procure and pay all or any
part of the cost of group any of the following insurance,
coverage, or benefits issued by an insurance company or
administered by a board of county commissioners or a contractor,
for county officers and employees and their immediate dependents
from the funds or budgets from which the county officers or
employees are compensated for services:
(1) Group insurance policies that may provide
benefits any
of the following:
(a) Benefits including, but not limited to, hospitalization,
surgical care, major medical care, disability, dental care, eye
care, medical care, hearing aids, or prescription drugs, and that
may provide sickness;
(b) Sickness and accident insurance, group;
(c) Group legal services, or group;
(d) Group life insurance, or a.
(2) Any other qualified benefit available under section 125
of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 26 U.S.C. 125;
(3) A health and wellness benefit program through which the
county provides a benefit or incentive to county officers,
employees, and their immediate dependents to maintain a healthy
lifestyle, including, but not limited to, programs to encourage
healthy eating and nutrition, exercise and physical activity,
weight control or the elimination of obesity, and cessation of
smoking or alcohol use.
(4) Any combination of any of the foregoing types of
insurance or, coverage, for county officers and employees and
their immediate dependents from the funds or budgets from which
the county officers or employees are compensated for services,
issued by an insurance company or benefits.
(B) The board of county commissioners also may negotiate and
contract for any plan or plans of health care services with health
insuring corporations holding a certificate of authority under
Chapter 1751. of the Revised Code, provided that each county
officer or employee shall be permitted to do both of the
following:
(1) Exercise an option between a plan offered by an insurance
company and a plan or plans offered by health insuring
corporations under this division, on the condition that the county
officer or employee shall pay any amount by which the cost of the
plan chosen by the county officer or employee pursuant to this
division exceeds the cost of the plan offered under division (A)
of this section;
(2) Change from one of the plans to another at a time each
year as determined by the board.
(C) Section 307.86 of the Revised Code does not apply to the
purchase of benefits for county officers or employees under
divisions (A) and (B) of this section when those benefits are
provided through a jointly administered health and welfare trust
fund in which the county or contracting authority and a collective
bargaining representative of the county employees or contracting
authority agree to participate.
(D) The board of trustees of a jointly administered trust
fund that receives contributions pursuant to collective bargaining
agreements entered into between the board of county commissioners
of any county and a collective bargaining representative of the
employees of the county may provide for self-insurance of all risk
in the provision of fringe benefits, and may provide through the
self-insurance method specific fringe benefits as authorized by
the rules of the board of trustees of the jointly administered
trust fund. The fringe benefits may include, but are not limited
to, hospitalization, surgical care, major medical care,
disability, dental care, vision care, medical care, hearing aids,
prescription drugs, group life insurance, sickness and accident
insurance, group legal services, or a combination of any of the
foregoing types of insurance or coverage, for county employees and
their dependents.
(E) The board of county commissioners may provide the
benefits described in divisions (A) to (D) of this section through
an individual self-insurance program or a joint self-insurance
program as provided in section 9.833 of the Revised Code.
(F) When a board of county commissioners offers health
benefits authorized under this section to a county officer or
employee, the board may offer the benefits through a cafeteria
plan meeting the requirements of section 125 of the "Internal
Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 125, as
amended, and, as part of that plan, may offer the county officer
or employee the option of receiving a cash payment in any form
permissible under such cafeteria plans. A cash payment made to a
county officer or employee under this division shall not exceed
twenty-five per cent of the cost of premiums or payments that
otherwise would be paid by the board for benefits for the county
officer or employee under a policy or plan.
(G) The board of county commissioners may establish a policy
authorizing any county appointing authority to make a cash payment
to any county officer or employee in lieu of providing a benefit
authorized under this section if the county officer or employee
elects to take the cash payment instead of the offered benefit. A
cash payment made to a county officer or employee under this
division shall not exceed twenty-five per cent of the cost of
premiums or payments that otherwise would be paid by the board for
benefits for the county officer or employee under an offered
policy or plan.
(H) No cash payment in lieu of a health benefit shall be made
to a county officer or employee under division (F) or (G) of this
section unless the county officer or employee signs a statement
affirming that the county officer or employee is covered under
another health insurance or health care policy, contract, or plan,
and setting forth the name of the employer, if any, that sponsors
the coverage, the name of the carrier that provides the coverage,
and the identifying number of the policy, contract, or plan.
(I) The legislative authority of a county-operated municipal
court, after consultation with the judges, or the clerk and deputy
clerks, of the municipal court, shall negotiate and contract for,
purchase, or otherwise procure, and pay the costs, premiums, or
charges for, group health care coverage for the judges, and group
health care coverage for the clerk and deputy clerks, in
accordance with section 1901.111 or 1901.312 of the Revised Code.
(J) As used in this section:
(1) "County officer or employee" includes, but is not limited
to, a member or employee of the county board of elections.
(2) "County-operated municipal court" and "legislative
authority" have the same meanings as in section 1901.03 of the
Revised Code.
(3) "Health care coverage" has the same meaning as in section
1901.111 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 305.23. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "County office" means the offices of the county
commissioner, county auditor, county treasurer, county engineer,
county recorder, county prosecuting attorney, county sheriff,
county coroner, county park district, veterans service commission,
clerk of the juvenile court, clerks of court for all divisions of
the courts of common pleas, including the clerk of the court of
common pleas, clerk of a county-operated municipal court, and
clerk of a county court, and any agency, department, or division
under the authority of, or receiving funding in whole or in part
from, any of those county offices.
(2) "Human resources" means any and all functions relating to
human resource management, including civil service, employee
benefits administration, collective bargaining, labor relations,
risk management, workers' compensation, unemployment compensation,
and any human resource management function required by state or
federal law, but "human resources" does not authorize a board of
county commissioners to adopt a resolution establishing a
centralized human resource service that requires any county office
to conform to any classification and compensation plan, position
descriptions, or organizational structure; to determine the rate
of compensation of any employee appointed by the appointing
authority of a county office or the salary ranges for positions of
a county office within the aggregate limits set in the
appropriation resolution of the board of county commissioners; to
determine the number of or the terms of employment of any employee
appointed by the appointing authority of a county office within
the aggregate limits set in the board's appropriation resolution;
or to exercise powers relating to the hiring, qualifications,
evaluation, suspension, demotion, disciplinary action, layoff,
furloughing, establishment of a modified work-week schedule, or
the termination of any employee appointed by the appointing
authority of any county office.
(B) Subject to division (C) of this section, a board of
county commissioners may adopt a resolution establishing
centralized purchasing, printing, transportation, vehicle
maintenance, human resources, revenue collection, and mail
operation services for a county office. Before adopting a
resolution under this section, the board of county commissioners,
in a written notice, shall inform any other county office that
will be impacted by the resolution of the board's desire to
establish a centralized service or services. The written notice
shall include a statement that provides the rationale and the
estimated savings anticipated for centralizing a service or
services. In addition, the board may request any other county
office to serve as the agent and responsible party for
administering a centralized service or services. That county
office may enter into an agreement with the board of county
commissioners to administer the centralized service or services
under such terms and conditions as are included in the agreement,
but nothing in this section authorizes the board of county
commissioners to require a county office to serve as the agent and
responsible party for administering a centralized service or
services at the board's request.
A resolution establishing a centralized service or services
shall specify all of the following:
(1) The name of the county office that will be the agent and
responsible party for administering a centralized service or
services, and if the agent and responsible party is not the board
of county commissioners, the designation of the county office that
has entered into an agreement under division (B) of this section
with the board to be the agent and responsible party;
(2) Which county offices are required to use the centralized
services;
(3) If not all of the centralized services, which centralized
service each county office must use;
(4) A list of rates and charges the county office shall pay
for the centralized services;
(5) The date upon which each county office specified in the
resolution shall begin using the centralized services.
Not later than ten days after a resolution is adopted under
this section, the clerk of the board of county commissioners shall
send a copy of the resolution to each county office that is
specified in the resolution.
(C) A board of county commissioners shall not adopt a
resolution that establishes a centralized service or services
regarding any of the following:
(1) Purchases made for contract services with moneys from the
special fund designated as "general fund moneys to supplement the
equipment needs of the county recorder" under section 317.321 of
the Revised Code, from the real estate assessment fund established
under section 325.31 of the Revised Code, or from the funds that
are paid out of the general fund of the county under sections
325.071 and 325.12 of the Revised Code;
(2) Purchases made with moneys from the real estate
assessment fund established under section 325.31 of the Revised
Code;
(3) Purchases of financial software used by the county
auditor;
(3)(4) The printing of county property tax bills;
(4)(5) The collection of any taxes, assessments, and fees the
county treasurer is required by law to collect;
(5)(6) Purchases of software used by the county recorder.
(D) Nothing in this section authorizes the board of county
commissioners to have control or authority over funds that are
received directly by a county office under another section of the
Revised Code, or to control, or have authority regarding, the
expenditure or use of such funds.
Sec. 307.862. (A) When a county contracting authority uses
competitive sealed proposals pursuant to section 307.86 of the
Revised Code, the county contracting authority shall do all of the
following:
(1) Develop factors and criteria to receive and evaluate each
proposal, specify the relative importance of each factor or
criterion in writing, and describe the evaluation procedures the
contracting authority shall follow when awarding a contract to an
offeror.
(2) Solicit competitive sealed proposals through a request
for proposals;
(3) Include, at a minimum, all of the information described
in division (B) of this section in the request for proposals;
(4) Give notice of the request for proposals in the same
manner that notice must be given for competitive bidding pursuant
to section 307.87 of the Revised Code;. The county contracting
authority also may give notice of the request for proposals and
receive proposals through a uniform, interactive, and secure
electronic system in a manner consistent with Chapter 1306. of the
Revised Code.
(5) Open proposals that the contracting authority receives in
a manner that prevents the disclosure of contents of competing
offers to competing offerors;
(6) Rank each proposal using the factors and criteria the
contracting authority develops pursuant to division (A)(1) of this
section;
(7) If necessary, conduct discussions with offerors for the
purpose of ensuring full understanding of, and responsiveness to,
the requirements specified in the request for proposals, and
accord fair and equal treatment with respect to any opportunity
for discussion with offerors to provide any clarification,
correction, or revision of proposals;
(8) If the contracting authority determines that discussions
described in division (A)(7) of this section are necessary, avoid
disclosing any information derived from proposals submitted by
competing offerors during those discussions;
(9) Negotiate with the offeror who submits the proposal that
the contracting authority determines is the most advantageous to
the county based on the rankings performed by the contracting
authority pursuant to division (A)(6) of this section and
including any adjustment to those rankings based on discussions
conducted pursuant to division (A)(7) of this section;
(10) Conduct negotiations with only one offeror at a time;
(11) Except as provided in division (F) of this section,
award a contract in accordance with division (E) of this section.
(B) A contracting authority shall include, at a minimum, all
of the following information in the contracting authority's
request for proposals:
(1) The name and address of the department, office,
institution, board, or commission that is requesting to purchase
supplies, services, or both;
(2) Instructions for offerors to follow when submitting
proposals;
(3) Instructions governing communications between an offeror
and the contracting authority, including, but not limited to, the
name, title, and telephone number of the person to whom questions
concerning the request for proposals should be directed;
(4) A description of the scope of work that the contracting
authority requests an offeror to perform or supplies the
contracting authority plans to purchase;
(5) To the extent possible, a description of the performance
criteria the contracting authority shall require an offeror to
satisfy, including but not limited to, the quantity of the
supplies, services, or both, to be purchased; the requirements the
contracting authority shall follow for inspection and acceptance
of the supplies, services, or both; and the delivery schedule for
each such supply or service;
(6) The factors and criteria the contracting authority shall
consider in evaluating proposals received;
(7) Any terms and conditions that the contracting authority
is required by law to include in the contract the contracting
authority awards, including any requirement for a bond and the
amount required for that bond;
(8) The date and time by which, and the place to which an
offeror must deliver the offeror's proposal to the contracting
authority in order to be considered for the contract;
(9) A list of any documents that the contracting authority
incorporates by reference in the request for proposals, provided
that the contracting authority specifies in the request for
proposals that the documents are readily available to all offerors
and the location where an offeror may obtain those documents;
(10) A statement that includes all of the following
information:
(a) That the contracting authority reserves the right to
reject any proposal in which the offeror takes exception to the
terms and conditions of the request for proposals; fails to meet
the terms and conditions of the request for proposals, including
but not limited to, the standards, specifications, and
requirements specified in the request for proposals; or submits
prices that the contracting authority considers to be excessive,
compared to existing market conditions, or determines exceed the
available funds of the contracting authority;
(b) That the contracting authority reserves the right to
reject, in whole or in part, any proposal that the county
contracting authority has determined, using the factors and
criteria the contracting authority develops pursuant to division
(A)(1) of this section, would not be in the best interest of the
county;
(c) That the contracting authority may conduct discussions
with offerors who submit proposals for the purpose of
clarifications or corrections regarding a proposal to ensure full
understanding of, and responsiveness to, the requirements
specified in the request for proposals.
(11) Information concerning any potential partial or multiple
party awards that the contracting authority may include in the
contract, and a description of the supplies, services, or both
that may be subject to a partial award or multiple awards;
(12) Any additional information the contracting authority
considers necessary for its purposes in determining to whom to
award the contract.
(C) In order to ensure fair and impartial evaluation,
proposals and any documents or other records related to a
subsequent negotiation for a final contract that would otherwise
be available for public inspection and copying under section
149.43 of the Revised Code shall not be available until after the
award of the contract.
(D) An offeror may withdraw the offeror's proposal at any
time prior to the award of a contract. A contracting authority may
terminate negotiations with an offeror at any time during the
negotiation process if the offeror fails to provide the necessary
information for negotiations in a timely manner or fails to
negotiate in good faith. If the contracting authority terminates
negotiations with an offeror, the contracting authority shall
negotiate with the offeror whose proposal is ranked the next most
advantageous to the county according to the factors and criteria
developed pursuant to division (A)(1) of this section.
(E) A county contracting authority may award a contract to
the offeror whose proposal is determined to be the most
advantageous to the county, taking into consideration the
evaluation factors and criteria developed pursuant to division
(A)(1) of this section and set forth in the request for proposals.
A contracting authority may award a contract in whole or in part
to one or more offerors. The contracting authority shall include a
written statement in the contract file stating the basis on which
the award is made.
The contracting authority shall send a written notice to the
offeror to whom it wishes to award the contract and shall make
that notice available to the public. Within a reasonable time
period after the award is made, the contracting authority shall
notify all other offerors that the contract has been awarded to
another offeror.
(F) A contracting authority may cancel or reissue a request
for proposals if any of the following apply:
(1) The supplies or services offered through all of the
proposals submitted to the contracting authority are not in
compliance with the requirements, specifications, and terms and
conditions set forth in the request for proposals;
(2) The prices submitted by the offerors are excessive
compared to existing market conditions or exceed the available
funds of the contracting authority;
(3) The contracting authority determines that award of a
contract would not be in the best interest of the county.
(G) A county contracting authority shall not use competitive
sealed proposals for contracts for construction, design,
demolition, alteration, repair, or reconstruction of a building,
highway, drainage system, water system, road, street, alley,
sewer, ditch, sewage disposal plant, waterworks, and all other
structures or works of any nature by a county contracting
authority.
(H) Nothing in this section limits a county contracting
authority's ability to award a contract under this section through
the use of a uniform, interactive, and secure electronic system.
Sec. 307.88. (A) Bids submitted pursuant to sections 307.86
to 307.92 of the Revised Code shall be in a form prescribed by the
contracting authority and filed in a sealed envelope in the manner
and at the time and place mentioned in the notice. The bids
received shall be opened and tabulated at the time stated in the
notice. Each bid shall contain the full name of each person
submitting the bid. If the bid is in excess of twenty-five
thousand dollars and for a contract for the construction,
demolition, alteration, repair, or reconstruction of an
improvement, it shall meet the requirements of section 153.54 of
the Revised Code. If the bid is in excess of twenty-five thousand
dollars and for any other contract authorized by sections 307.86
to 307.92 of the Revised Code, it shall be accompanied by a bond
or certified check, cashier's check, or money order on a solvent
bank or savings and loan association in a reasonable amount stated
in the notice but not to exceed five per cent of the bid,
conditioned that the bidder, if the bidder's bid is accepted,
shall execute a contract in conformity to the invitation and the
bid.
(B) The board of county commissioners, by a unanimous vote of
the entire board, may permit a contracting authority to exempt a
bid from any or all of the requirements of section 153.54 of the
Revised Code if the estimated cost is twenty-five thousand dollars
or less. If the board exempts a bid from any but not all of those
requirements, the bid notice published in the newspaper pursuant
to section 307.87 of the Revised Code shall state the specific bid
guaranty requirements that apply. If the board exempts a bid from
all requirements of section 153.54 of the Revised Code, the notice
shall state that none of the requirements of that section apply.
Sec. 329.01. In each county, except as provided in section
329.40 of the Revised Code, there shall be a county department of
job and family services which, when so established, shall be
governed by this chapter. The department shall consist of a county
director of job and family services appointed by the board of
county commissioners, and such assistants and other employees as
are necessary for the efficient performance of the functions of
the county department. Before entering upon the discharge of the
director's official duties, the director shall give a bond,
conditioned for the faithful performance of those official duties,
in such sum as fixed by the board. The director may require any
assistant or employee under the director's jurisdiction to give a
bond in such sum as determined by the board. All bonds given under
this section shall be with a surety or bonding company authorized
to do business in this state, conditioned for the faithful
performance of the duties of such director, assistant, or
employee. The expense or premium for any bond required by this
section shall be paid from the appropriation for administrative
expenses of the department. Such bond shall be deposited with the
county treasurer and kept in the treasurer's office.
As used in the Revised Code:
(A) "County department of job and family services" means the
county department of job and family services established under
this section, including an entity designated a county department
of job and family services under section 307.981 of the Revised
Code, or the joint county department of job and family services
established under section 329.40 of the Revised Code.
(B) "County director of job and family services" means the
county director of job and family services appointed under this
section or under section 329.41 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 329.40. (A)(1) The boards of county commissioners of
the counties of Hocking, Ross, and Vinton, by entering into a
written agreement, may form a joint county department of job and
family services to perform the duties, provide the services, and
operate the programs required under this chapter. The formation of
this joint county department of job and family services is a pilot
project. The agreement shall be ratified by resolution of the
board of county commissioners of each county that entered into the
agreement. Each board of county commissioners that enters into the
agreement shall give notice of the agreement to the Ohio
department of job and family services at least ninety days before
the agreement's effective date. The agreement shall take effect
not earlier than the first day of the calendar quarter following
the ninety-day notice period. The director of job and family
services shall adopt, as an internal management rule under section
111.15 of the Revised Code, the form in which the notice shall be
given.
(2) The boards of county commissioners of the counties
forming the joint county department shall constitute,
collectively, the board of directors of the joint county
department of job and family services. On the effective date of
the agreement, the board of directors shall take control of and
manage the joint county department subject to this chapter and all
other sections of the Revised Code that govern the authority and
responsibilities of a single board of county commissioners in the
operation of a single county department of job and family
services.
(B)(1) The agreement to establish the joint county department
shall specify all of the following:
(a) The obligations of each board of county commissioners in
operating the joint county department, including requiring each
board to provide state, federal, and county funds to the operation
of the joint county department and the schedule for provision of
those funds;
(b) How and which facilities, equipment, and personnel will
be shared;
(c) Procedures for the division of resources and obligations
should a county or counties withdraw from the joint county
department, or should the department cease to exist;
(d) Any contributions of participating counties establishing
the joint county department and the rights of those counties in
lands or personal property, or rights or interests therein,
contributed to or otherwise acquired by the joint county
department.
(2) The agreement to establish the joint county department
may set forth any or all of the following:
(a) Quality, timeliness, and other standards to be met by
each county;
(b) Which family service programs and functions are to be
included in the joint county department;
(c) Procedures for the operation of the board of directors,
including procedures governing the frequency of meetings and the
number of members of the board required to constitute a quorum to
take action;
(d) Any other procedures or standards necessary for the joint
county department to perform its duties and operate efficiently.
(C) The agreement may be amended by a majority vote of the
board of directors of the joint county department, but no
amendment shall divest a participating county of any right or
interest in lands or personal property without its consent.
(D) Costs incurred in operating the joint county department
shall be paid from a joint general fund created by the board of
directors, except as may be otherwise provided in the agreement.
Sec. 329.41. (A) The board of directors of the joint county
department of job and family services formed under section 329.40
of the Revised Code shall appoint and fix the compensation of a
director of the department. The director shall serve at the
pleasure of the board of directors. Under the direction and
control of the board, the director shall have full charge of the
department as set forth in section 329.02 of the Revised Code for
the director of a single county department of job and family
services.
(B) The board of directors may appoint up to three
administrators to oversee services provided by the joint county
department. Administrators shall be in the unclassified service.
(C) Employees of the joint county department of job and
family services shall be appointed by the director of the joint
county department and, except as provided in this section, shall
be in the classified service. The employees of the joint county
department shall be considered county employees for the purposes
of Chapter 124. of the Revised Code and other provisions of state
law applicable to county employees. Instead of or in addition to
appointing these employees, the board of directors may agree to
use the employees of one or more of the counties that formed the
joint county department in the service of the joint county
department and to share in their compensation in any manner that
may be agreed upon.
(D) Notwithstanding any other section of the Revised Code, if
an employee's separation from county service occurs in connection
with a county joining or withdrawing from the joint county
department of job and family services, the board of county
commissioners that initially appointed the employee shall have no
obligation to pay any compensation with respect to unused vacation
or sick leave accrued to the credit of the employee if the
employee accepts employment with the joint county department or a
withdrawing county. At the effective time of separation from
county service, the joint county department or the withdrawing
county, as the case may be, shall assume such unused vacation and
sick leave accrued to the employee's credit.
Sec. 329.42. The county auditor of the county with the
largest population that formed the joint county department of job
and family services under section 329.40 of the Revised Code shall
serve as the fiscal officer of the joint county department, and
the county treasurer of that county shall serve as the treasurer
of the joint county department, unless the counties that formed
the joint county department agree to appoint the county auditor
and county treasurer of another county that formed the department.
In either case, these county officers shall perform any applicable
duties for the joint county department as each typically performs
for the county of which the individual is an officer. The board of
directors of the joint county department may pay to that county
any amount agreed upon by the board of directors and the board of
county commissioners of that county to reimburse the county for
the costs that are properly allocable to the service of its
officers as fiscal officer and treasurer of the joint county
department.
Sec. 329.43. (A) The prosecuting attorney of the county with
the largest population that formed the joint county department of
job and family services under section 329.40 of the Revised Code
shall serve as the legal advisor of the board of directors of the
joint county department, unless the counties that formed the joint
county department agree to appoint the prosecuting attorney of
another county that formed the joint county department as legal
advisor of the board. The board of directors may pay to the county
of the prosecuting attorney who is the legal advisor of the board
any amount agreed upon by the board of directors and the board of
county commissioners of that county to reimburse that county for
the costs that are properly allocable to the service of its
prosecuting attorney as the legal advisor of the board of
directors.
(B) The prosecuting attorney shall provide such services to
the board of directors as are required or authorized to be
provided to other county boards under Chapter 309. of the Revised
Code.
(C)(1) If the board of directors of the joint county
department wishes to employ other legal counsel on an annual basis
to serve as the board's legal advisor in place of the prosecuting
attorney, the board may do so with the agreement of the
prosecuting attorney. If the prosecuting attorney does not agree,
the board of directors may apply to the court of common pleas of
the county with the largest population that formed the joint
county department for authority to employ other legal counsel on
an annual basis.
(2) If the board of directors of the joint county department
wishes to employ other legal counsel to represent or advise the
board on a particular matter in place of the prosecuting attorney,
the board may do so with the agreement of the prosecuting
attorney. If the prosecuting attorney does not agree, the board of
directors may apply to the court of common pleas of the county
with the largest population that formed the joint county
department for authority to employ other legal counsel for that
particular matter.
(3) The prosecuting attorney who is the legal advisor of the
board of directors shall be given notice of an application filed
under division (C)(1) or (2) of this section and shall be afforded
an opportunity to be heard. After the hearing, the court may
authorize the board of directors to employ other legal counsel on
an annual basis or for a particular matter only if it finds that
the prosecuting attorney refuses or is unable to provide the legal
services that the board requires. If the board of directors
employs other legal counsel on an annual basis or for a particular
matter, the board may not require the prosecuting attorney to
provide legal advice, opinions, or other legal services during the
period or to the extent that the board employs the other legal
counsel.
Sec. 329.44. (A) A board of directors of the joint county
department of job and family services formed under section 329.40
of the Revised Code may acquire, by purchase or lease, real
property, equipment, and systems to improve, maintain, or operate
family service programs within the territory served by the joint
county department. A board of county commissioners may acquire,
within its county, real property or any estate, interest, or right
therein, by appropriation or any other method, for use by the
joint county department in connection with its provision of
services. Appropriation proceedings shall be conducted in
accordance with Chapter 163. of the Revised Code.
(B) A board of county commissioners that formed the joint
county department may contribute lands or rights or interests
therein, money, other personal property or rights or interests
therein, or services to the joint county department. The board of
county commissioners may issue bonds or bond anticipation notes of
the county to pay the cost of acquiring real property and of
constructing, modifying, or upgrading a facility to house
employees of the joint county department. The board of directors
of the joint county department may reimburse the county for the
use of such a facility if it is required to do so under the
agreement entered into under section 329.40 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 329.45. (A)(1) A board of county commissioners may pass
a resolution requesting to withdraw from the agreement
establishing the joint county department of job and family
services formed under section 329.40 of the Revised Code. Upon
adopting such a resolution, the board of county commissioners
shall deliver a copy of the resolution to the board of directors
of the joint county department. Upon receiving the resolution, the
board of directors shall deliver written notice of the requested
withdrawal to the boards of county commissioners of the other
county or counties that formed the joint county department. Within
thirty days after receiving the notice, each of those boards of
county commissioners shall adopt a resolution either accepting the
withdrawal or objecting to the withdrawal, and shall deliver a
copy of the resolution to the board of directors.
(2) If any of the boards of county commissioners that formed
the joint county department adopts a resolution objecting to the
requested withdrawal, the board of directors shall deliver written
notice of the objection to each other board of county
commissioners of the counties that formed the joint county
department, including the board of county commissioners of the
county proposing withdrawal, and shall schedule a meeting of the
board of directors to be held within thirty days to discuss the
objection. After the meeting, the board of directors shall
determine whether the county requesting withdrawal desires to
proceed with the withdrawal and, if the county does, the board of
directors shall accept the withdrawal. Not later than thirty days
after the determination was made, the board of directors shall
deliver written notice of the withdrawal to the boards of county
commissioners that formed the joint county department and to the
board of county commissioners that requested withdrawal, and shall
commence the withdrawal process under this section.
(3) If all of the boards of county commissioners that formed
the joint county department, except for the board of county
commissioners requesting the withdrawal, each adopt a resolution
accepting the withdrawal, the board of directors shall declare the
withdrawal to be accepted. Not later than thirty days after the
declaration, the board of directors shall deliver written notice
of the withdrawal to all of the boards of county commissioners
that formed the joint county department, including the board of
county commissioners of the county requesting withdrawal, and
shall commence the withdrawal process under this section.
(4) The board of directors shall give notice to the Ohio
department of job and family services of the withdrawal of a
county under this section at least ninety days before the
withdrawal becomes final. The director of job and family services
shall adopt, as an internal management rule under section 111.15
of the Revised Code, the form in which the notice shall be given.
(5) If a county requesting to withdraw decides to remain as a
party to the agreement establishing the joint county department,
the board of county commissioners of that county shall rescind its
original resolution requesting withdrawal and shall deliver a copy
of the rescission to the board of directors of the joint county
department within thirty days after adopting the rescission.
(B) If a county withdraws from the agreement under this
section, the board of directors shall ascertain, apportion, and
order a division of the funds on hand, credits, and real and
personal property of the joint county department, either in money
or in kind, on an equitable basis between the joint county
department and the withdrawing county according to the agreement
entered into under section 329.40 of the Revised Code and
consistent with any prior contributions of the withdrawing county
to the joint county department. Any debt incurred individually
shall remain the responsibility of that county, unless otherwise
specified in the agreement establishing the joint county
department.
(C) A withdrawal becomes final not earlier than the first day
of the calendar quarter following the ninety-day notice period
required by division (A)(4) of this section. On and after that
day, the withdrawing county ceases to be a part of the joint
county department, and its members of the board of directors shall
cease to be members of that board.
(D) If the withdrawal of one or more counties would leave
only one county participating in the joint county department, the
board of directors shall ascertain, apportion, and order a final
division of the funds on hand, credits, and real and personal
property of the joint county department. On and after the day on
which the latest withdrawal of a county becomes final, the joint
county department is dissolved. When the joint county department
is dissolved and any indebtedness remains unpaid, the boards of
county commissioners that formed the joint county department shall
pay the indebtedness of the joint county department in the amounts
established by the agreement at the time the indebtedness was
incurred.
Sec. 329.46. (A) A board of county commissioners that formed
the joint county department of job and family services under
section 329.40 of the Revised Code, by adopting a resolution, may
propose the removal of another county that formed the joint county
department. The board of county commissioners shall send a copy of
such a resolution to the board of directors of the joint county
department. Within ten days after receiving the copy of the
resolution, the board of directors shall send a copy of the
resolution to each board of county commissioners that formed the
joint county department, except the board of county commissioners
proposing removal. Within thirty days after sending a copy of the
resolution, the board of directors shall hold a hearing at which
any county commissioner whose county formed the joint county
department may present arguments for or against the removal. At
the hearing, approval or disapproval of the removal shall be
determined by a two-thirds vote of the county commissioners of the
counties that formed the joint county department, with the
exception of the county commissioners of the county proposed for
removal.
(B) The board of directors of the joint county department of
job and family services, by adopting a resolution by a majority
vote of the members of the board, may propose removal of a county
that formed the joint county department. Within ten days after
adopting such a resolution, the board of directors shall send a
copy of the resolution to the board of county commissioners of
each county that formed the joint county department, including the
board of county commissioners of the county proposed for removal.
Within thirty days after sending the copy of the resolution, the
board of directors shall hold a hearing at which any member of the
board may present arguments for or against the removal. At this
hearing, approval or disapproval of the resolution proposing
removal shall be determined by a two-thirds vote of the members of
the board of directors, with the exception of the board members
who represent the county proposed for removal.
(C) If removal of a county is approved under this section,
the board of directors shall give written notice of the approval
to the Ohio department of job and family services at least ninety
days before the removal takes effect. The director of job and
family services shall adopt, as an internal management rule under
section 111.15 of the Revised Code, the form in which the notice
shall be given.
(D) Removal of a county under this section shall take effect
not earlier than the first day of the calendar quarter following
the ninety-day notice period required by division (C) of this
section.
(E) If, at any time, the county proposed for removal under
division (A) or (B) of this section notifies the board of
directors, by a majority vote of that county's board of county
commissioners, that it chooses to withdraw from the joint county
department, the withdrawal procedure established under section
329.45 of the Revised Code shall be put immediately into motion.
Sec. 330.04. If, for the purpose of Chapter 6301. of the
Revised Code, a county is the type of local area defined in
division (A)(2) of section 6301.01 of the Revised Code, the board
of county commissioners serving the county shall adopt a
resolution establishing or designating a workforce development
agency to provide workforce development activities for the county.
The board shall adopt the resolution not later than July 1, 2000.
The board may establish or designate any of the following as
the workforce development agency:
(A) The county department of job and family services;
(B) A separate agency under the direct control of the board
and administered by an official appointed by the board;
(C) An entity serving the county on the effective date of
this section in a capacity similar to the capacity in which a
workforce development agency is to serve the county on and after
the effective date of this section;
(D) An entity located in or outside the county that provides
workforce development activities in the county on the effective
date of this section;
(E) Any private or government entity designated under section
307.981 of the Revised Code;
(F) The joint county department of job and family services
established under section 329.40 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 349.01. As used in this chapter:
(A) "New community" means a community or an addition to an
existing community planned pursuant to this chapter so that it
includes facilities for the conduct of industrial, commercial,
residential, cultural, educational, and recreational activities,
and designed in accordance with planning concepts for the
placement of utility, open space, and other supportive facilities.
In the case of a new community authority established on or
within three years after the effective date of this amendment and
before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the 129th general assembly,
"new community" may mean a community or development of property
planned under this chapter in relation to an existing community so
that the community includes facilities for the conduct of
community activities, and is designed in accordance with planning
concepts for the placement of utility, open space, and other
supportive facilities for the community.
(B) "New community development program" means a program for
the development of a new community characterized by well-balanced
and diversified land use patterns and which includes land
acquisition and land development, the acquisition, construction,
operation, and maintenance of community facilities, and the
provision of services authorized in this chapter.
In the case of a new community authority established on or
within three years after the effective date of this amendment and
before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the 129th general assembly, a
new community development program may take into account any
existing community in relation to which a new community is
developed for purposes of being characterized by well-balanced and
diversified land use patterns.
(C) "New community district" means the area of land described
by the developer in the petition as set forth in division (A) of
section 349.03 of the Revised Code for development as a new
community and any lands added to the district by amendment of the
resolution establishing the community authority.
(D) "New community authority" means a body corporate and
politic in this state, established pursuant to section 349.03 of
the Revised Code and governed by a board of trustees as provided
in section 349.04 of the Revised Code.
(E) "Developer" means any person, organized for carrying out
a new community development program who owns or controls, through
leases of at least seventy-five years' duration, options, or
contracts to purchase, the land within a new community district,
or any municipal corporation, county, or port authority that owns
the land within a new community district, or has the ability to
acquire such land, either by voluntary acquisition or condemnation
in order to eliminate slum, blighted, and deteriorated or
deteriorating areas and to prevent the recurrence thereof. In the
case of a new community authority established on or within three
years after the effective date of this amendment and before
January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the 129th general assembly,
"developer" may mean a person, municipal corporation, county, or
port authority that controls land within a new community district
through leases of at least forty years' duration.
(F) "Organizational board of commissioners" means, if the new
community district is located in only one county, the board of
county commissioners of such county; if located in more than one
county, a board consisting of the members of the board of county
commissioners of each of the counties in which the district is
located, provided that action of such board shall require a
majority vote of the members of each separate board of county
commissioners; or, if more than half of the new community district
is located within the boundaries of the most populous municipal
corporation of a county, the legislative authority of the
municipal corporation.
(G) "Land acquisition" means the acquisition of real property
and interests in real property as part of a new community
development program.
(H) "Land development" means the process of clearing and
grading land, making, installing, or constructing water
distribution systems, sewers, sewage collection systems, steam,
gas, and electric lines, roads, streets, curbs, gutters,
sidewalks, storm drainage facilities, and other installations or
work, whether within or without the new community district, and
the construction of community facilities.
(I)(1) "Community facilities" means all real property,
buildings, structures, or other facilities, including related
fixtures, equipment, and furnishings, to be owned, operated,
financed, constructed, and maintained under this chapter,
including public, community, village, neighborhood, or town
buildings, centers and plazas, auditoriums, day care centers,
recreation halls, educational facilities, hospital facilities as
defined in section 140.01 of the Revised Code, recreational
facilities, natural resource facilities, including parks and other
open space land, lakes and streams, cultural facilities, community
streets, pathway and bikeway systems, pedestrian underpasses and
overpasses, lighting facilities, design amenities, or other
community facilities, and buildings needed in connection with
water supply or sewage disposal installations or steam, gas, or
electric lines or installation.
(2) In the case of a new community authority established on
or within three years after the effective date of this amendment
and before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the 129th general assembly,
"community facilities" may mean, in addition to the facilities
authorized in division (I)(1) of this section, any community
facilities that are owned, operated, financed, constructed, or
maintained for, relating to, or in furtherance of community
activities, including, but not limited to, town buildings or other
facilities, health care facilities including, but limited to,
hospital facilities, and off-street parking facilities.
(J) "Cost" as applied to a new community development program
means all costs related to land acquisition and land development,
the acquisition, construction, maintenance, and operation of
community facilities and offices of the community authority, and
of providing furnishings and equipment therefor, financing charges
including interest prior to and during construction and for the
duration of the new community development program, planning
expenses, engineering expenses, administrative expenses including
working capital, and all other expenses necessary and incident to
the carrying forward of the new community development program.
(K) "Income source" means any and all sources of income to
the community authority, including community development charges
of which the new community authority is the beneficiary as
provided in section 349.07 of the Revised Code, rentals, user fees
and other charges received by the new community authority, any
gift or grant received, any moneys received from any funds
invested by or on behalf of the new community authority, and
proceeds from the sale or lease of land and community facilities.
(L) "Community development charge" means:
(1) A dollar amount which shall be determined on the basis of
the assessed valuation of real property or interests in real
property in a new community district sold, leased, or otherwise
conveyed by the developer or the new community authority, the
income of the residents of such property subject to such charge
under section 349.07 of the Revised Code, if such property is
devoted to residential uses or to the profits of any business, a
uniform fee on each parcel of such real property originally sold,
leased, or otherwise conveyed by the developer or new community
authority, or any combination of the foregoing bases.
(2) For a new community authority that is established on or
within three years after the effective date of this amendment and
before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the 129th general assembly,
"community development charge" includes, in addition to the
charges authorized in division (L)(1) of this section, a charge
determined on the basis of all or a part of the income of the
residents of real property within the new community district if
such property is devoted to residential uses, or all or a part of
the profits, gross receipts, or other revenues of any business
operating in the new community district.
(M) "Proximate city" means any city that, as of the date of
filing of the petition under section 349.03 of the Revised Code,
is the city with the greatest population located in the county in
which the proposed new community district is located, is the city
with the greatest population located in an adjoining county if any
portion of such city is within five miles of any part of the
boundaries of such district, or exercises extraterritorial
subdivision authority under section 711.09 of the Revised Code
with respect to any part of such district.
In the case of a new community authority that is established
within three years after the effective date of H.B. 225 of the
129th general assembly, "proximate city" may mean a municipal
corporation in which, at the time of filing the petition under
section 349.03 of the Revised Code, any portion of the proposed
new community district is located, or, if at the time of that
filing more than one-half of the proposed district is contained
within a joint economic development district created under
sections 715.70 to 715.83 of the Revised Code, the township
containing the greatest portion of the territory of the joint
economic development district.
(N) "Community activities" means cultural, educational,
governmental, recreational, residential, industrial, commercial,
distribution and research activities, or any combination thereof
that includes residential activities.
Sec. 349.03. (A) Proceedings for the organization of a new
community authority shall be initiated by a petition filed by the
developer in the office of the clerk of the board of county
commissioners of one of the counties in which all or part of the
proposed new community district is located. Such petition shall be
signed by the developer and may be signed by each proximate city.
The legislative authorities of each such proximate city shall act
in behalf of such city. Such petition shall contain:
(1) The name of the proposed new community authority;
(2) The address where the principal office of the authority
will be located or the manner in which the location will be
selected;
(3) A map and a full and accurate description of the
boundaries of the new community district together with a
description of the properties within such boundaries, if any,
which will not be included in the new community district. Unless
the district is wholly contained within municipalities, the
The total acreage included in such district shall not be less
than one thousand acres, all of which acreage shall be owned by,
or under the control through leases of at least seventy-five
years' duration, options, or contracts to purchase, of the
developer, if the developer is a private entity. Such acreage
unless one of the following applies:
(a) The district is wholly contained within municipal
corporations.
(b) In the case of a new community authority that is
established within three years after the effective date of H.B.
225 of the 129th general assembly, more than one-half of the
proposed district is, at the time of filing the petition under
section 349.03 of the Revised Code, contained within a joint
economic development district created under sections 715.70 to
715.83 of the Revised Code.
The acreage included in a proposed district shall be
developable as one functionally interrelated community. In the
case of a new community authority established on or after the
effective date of this amendment July 7, 2010, and before January
1, 2012, such leases may be of not less than forty years'
duration, and the acreage may be developable so that the community
is one functionally interrelated community.
(4) A statement setting forth the zoning regulations proposed
for zoning the area within the boundaries of the new community
district for comprehensive development as a new community, and if
the area has been zoned for such development, a certified copy of
the applicable zoning regulations therefor;
(5) A current plan indicating the proposed development
program for the new community district, the land acquisition and
land development activities, community facilities, services
proposed to be undertaken by the new community authority under
such program, the proposed method of financing such activities and
services, including a description of the bases, timing, and manner
of collecting any proposed community development charges, and the
projected total residential population of, and employment within,
the new community;
(6) A suggested number of members, consistent with section
349.04 of the Revised Code, for the board of trustees;
(7) A preliminary economic feasibility analysis, including
the area development pattern and demand, location and proposed new
community district size, present and future socio-economic
conditions, public services provision, financial plan, and the
developer's management capability;
(8) A statement that the development will comply with all
applicable environmental laws and regulations.
Upon the filing of such petition, the organizational board of
commissioners shall determine whether such petition complies with
the requirements of this section as to form and substance. The
board in subsequent proceedings may at any time permit the
petition to be amended in form and substance to conform to the
facts by correcting any errors in the description of the proposed
new community district or in any other particular.
Upon the determination of the organizational board of
commissioners that a sufficient petition has been filed in
accordance with this section, the board shall fix the time and
place of a hearing on the petition for the establishment of the
proposed new community authority. Such hearing shall be held not
less than ninety-five nor more than one hundred fifteen days after
the petition filing date, except that if the petition has been
signed by all proximate cities, such hearing shall be held not
less than thirty nor more than forty-five days after the petition
filing date. The clerk of the board of county commissioners with
which the petition was filed shall give notice thereof by
publication once each week for three consecutive weeks, or as
provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code, in a newspaper of
general circulation in any county of which a portion is within the
proposed new community district. Such clerk shall also give
written notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing and
furnish a certified copy of the petition to the clerk of the
legislative authority of each proximate city which has not signed
such petition. In the event that the legislative authority of a
proximate city which did not sign the petition does not approve by
ordinance, resolution, or motion the establishment of the proposed
new community authority and does not deliver such ordinance,
resolution, or motion to the clerk of the board of county
commissioners with which the petition was filed within ninety days
following the date of the first publication of the notice of the
public hearing, the organizational board of commissioners shall
cancel such public hearing and terminate the proceedings for the
establishment of the new community authority.
Upon the hearing, if the organizational board of
commissioners determines by resolution that the proposed new
community district will be conducive to the public health, safety,
convenience, and welfare, and is intended to result in the
development of a new community, the board shall by its resolution,
entered of record in its journal and the journal of the board of
county commissioners with which the petition was filed, declare
the new community authority to be organized and a body politic and
corporate with the corporate name designated in the resolution,
and define the boundary of the new community district. In
addition, the resolution shall provide the method of selecting the
board of trustees of the new community authority and fix the
surety for their bonds in accordance with section 349.04 of the
Revised Code.
If the organizational board of commissioners finds that the
establishment of the district will not be conducive to the public
health, safety, convenience, or welfare, or is not intended to
result in the development of a new community, it shall reject the
petition thereby terminating the proceedings for the establishment
of the new community authority.
(B) At any time after the creation of a new community
authority, the developer may file an application with the clerk of
the board of county commissioners of the county in which the
original petition was filed, setting forth a general description
of territory it desires to add or to delete from such district,
that such change will be conducive to the public health, safety,
convenience, and welfare, and will be consistent with the
development of a new community and will not jeopardize the plan of
the new community. If the developer is not a municipal
corporation, port authority, or county, all of such an addition to
such a district shall be owned by, or under the control through
leases of at least seventy-five years' duration, options, or
contracts to purchase, of the developer. In the case of a new
community authority established on or after the effective date of
this amendment July 7, 2010, and before January 1, 2012, such
leases may be of not less than forty years' duration. Upon the
filing of the application, the organizational board of
commissioners shall follow the same procedure as required by this
section in relation to the petition for the establishment of the
proposed new community.
(C) If all or any part of the new community district is
annexed to one or more existing municipal corporations, their
legislative authorities may appoint persons to replace any
appointed citizen member of the board of trustees. The number of
such trustees to be replaced by the municipal corporation shall be
the number, rounded to the lowest integer, bearing the
proportionate relationship to the number of existing appointed
citizen members as the acreage of the new community district
within such municipal corporation bears to the total acreage of
the new community district. If any such municipal corporation
chooses to replace an appointed citizen member, it shall do so by
ordinance, the term of the trustee being replaced shall terminate
thirty days from the date of passage of such ordinance, and the
trustee to be replaced shall be determined by lot. Each newly
appointed member shall assume the term of the member's
predecessor.
Sec. 349.04. The following method of selecting a board of
trustees is deemed to be a compelling state interest. Within ten
days after the new community authority has been established, as
provided in section 349.03 of the Revised Code, an initial board
of trustees shall be appointed as follows;: the organizational
board of commissioners shall appoint by resolution at least three,
but not more than six, citizen members of the board of trustees to
represent the interests of present and future residents of the new
community district and one member to serve as a representative of
local government, and the developer shall appoint a number of
members equal to the number of citizen members to serve as
representatives of the developer. In the case of a new community
authority established on or within three years after the effective
date of this amendment and before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the
129th general assembly, the citizen members may represent present
and future employers within the new community district and any
present or future residents of the district.
Members shall serve two-year overlapping terms, with two of
each of the initial citizen and developer members appointed to
serve initial one year terms. The organizational board of
commissioners shall adopt, by further resolution adopted within
one year of such resolution establishing such initial board of
trustees
adopt, a method for selection of successor members
thereof which determines the projected total population of the
projected new community and meets the following criteria:
(A) The appointed citizen members shall be replaced by
elected citizen members according to a schedule established by the
organizational board of commissioners calculated to achieve one
such replacement each time the new community district gains a
proportion, having a numerator of one and a denominator of twice
the number of citizen members, of its projected total population
until such time as all of the appointed citizen members are
replaced.
(B) Representatives of the developer shall be replaced by
elected citizen members according to a schedule established by the
organizational board of commissioners calculated to achieve one
such replacement each time the new community district gains a
proportion, having a numerator of one and a denominator equal to
the number of developer members, of its projected total population
until such time as all of the developer's representatives are
replaced.
(C) The representative of local government shall be replaced
by an elected citizen member at the time the new community
district gains three-quarters of its projected total population.
Elected citizen members of the board of trustees shall be
elected by a majority of the residents of the new community
district voting at elections held on the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in December of each year. Each citizen member except
an appointed citizen member shall be a qualified elector who
resides within the new community district. In the case of a new
community authority established on or for which a petition is
filed within three years after the effective date of
this
amendment and before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the 129th general
assembly, the organizational board of directors commissioners, by
resolution, may adopt an alternative method of selection of
selecting or electing successor members of the board of trustees.
If the alternative method provides for the election of citizen
members, the elections may be held at the times and in the manner
provided in the petition or in a resolution of the organizational
board of commissioners, and the elected citizen members shall be
qualified electors who resides reside in the new community
district.
Citizen members shall not be employees of or have financial
interest in the developer. If a vacancy occurs in the office of a
member other than a member appointed by the developer, the
organizational board of commissioners may appoint a successor
member for the remainder of the unexpired term. Any appointed
member of the board of trustees may at any time be removed by the
organizational board of commissioners for misfeasance,
nonfeasance, or malfeasance in office. Members appointed by the
developer may also at any time be removed by the developer without
a showing of cause.
Each member of the board of trustees, before entering upon
official duties, shall take and subscribe to an oath before an
officer authorized to administer oaths in Ohio that the member
will honestly and faithfully perform the duties of the member's
office. Such oath shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the
board of county commissioners in which the petition was filed.
Upon taking the oath, the board of trustees shall elect one of its
number as chairperson and another as vice-chairperson, and shall
appoint suitable persons as secretary and treasurer who need not
be members of the board. The treasurer shall be the fiscal officer
of the authority. The board shall adopt by-laws governing the
administration of the affairs of the new community authority. Each
member of the board shall post a bond for the faithful performance
of official duties and give surety therefor in such amount, but
not less than ten thousand dollars, as the resolution creating
such board shall prescribe.
All of the powers of the new community authority shall be
exercised by its board of trustees, but without relief of such
responsibility, such powers may be delegated to committees of the
board or its officers and employees in accordance with its
by-laws. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum, and a
concurrence of a majority of a quorum in any matter within the
board's duties is sufficient for its determination, provided a
quorum is present when such concurrence is had and a majority of
those members constituting such quorum are trustees not appointed
by the developer. All trustees shall be empowered to vote on all
matters within the authority of the board of trustees, and no vote
by a member appointed by the developer shall be construed to give
rise to civil or criminal liability for conflict of interest on
the part of public officials.
Sec. 349.06. In furtherance of the purposes of this chapter,
a new community authority may:
(A) Acquire by purchase, lease, gift, or otherwise, on such
terms and in such manner as it considers proper, real and personal
property or any estate, interest, or right therein, within or
without the new community district;
(B) Improve, maintain, sell, lease or otherwise dispose of
real and personal property and community facilities, on such terms
and in such manner as it considers proper;
(C) Landscape and otherwise aesthetically improve areas
within the new community district, including but not limited to
maintenance, landscaping and other community improvement services;
(D) Provide, engage in, or otherwise sponsor recreational,
educational, health, social, vocational, cultural, beautification,
and amusement activities and related services primarily for
residents of the district. In the case of a new community
authority established on or within three years after the effective
date of this amendment and before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the
129th general assembly, such activities and services may be for
residents of, visitors to, employees working within, or employers
operating businesses in the district, or any combination thereof.
(E) Fix, alter, impose, collect and receive service and user
fees, rentals, and other charges to cover all costs in carrying
out the new community development program;
(F) Adopt, modify, and enforce reasonable rules and
regulations governing the use of community facilities;
(G) Employ such managers, administrative officers, agents,
engineers, architects, attorneys, contractors, sub-contractors,
and employees as may be appropriate in the exercise of the rights,
powers and duties conferred upon it, prescribe the duties and
compensation for such persons, require bonds to be given by any
such persons and by officers of the authority for the faithful
performance of their duties, and fix the amount and surety
therefor; and pay the same;
(H) Sue and be sued in its corporate name;
(I) Make and enter into all contracts and agreements and
execute all instruments relating to a new community development
program, including contracts with the developer and other persons
or entities related thereto for land acquisition and land
development; acquisition, construction, and maintenance of
community facilities; the provision of community services and
management and coordinating services; with federal, state,
interstate, regional, and local agencies and political
subdivisions or combinations thereof in connection with the
financing of such program, and with any municipal corporation or
other public body, or combination thereof, providing for the
acquisition, construction, improvement, extension, maintenance or
operation of joint lands or facilities or for the provision of any
services or activities relating to and in furtherance of a new
community development program, including the creation of or
participation in a regional transit authority created pursuant to
the Revised Code;
(J) Apply for and accept grants, loans or commitments of
guarantee or insurance including any guarantees of community
authority bonds and notes, from the United States, the state, or
other public body or other sources, and provide any consideration
which may be required in order to obtain such grants, loans or
contracts of guarantee or insurance. Such loans or contracts of
guarantee or insurance may be evidenced by the issuance of bonds
as provided in section 349.08 of the Revised Code;
(K) Procure insurance against loss to it by reason of damage
to its properties resulting from fire, theft, accident, or other
casualties, or by reason of its liability for any damages to
persons or property occurring in the construction or operation of
facilities or areas under its jurisdiction or the conduct of its
activities;
(L) Maintain such funds or reserves as it considers necessary
for the efficient performance of its duties;
(M) Enter agreements with the boards of education of any
school districts in which all or part of the new community
district lies, whereby the community authority may acquire
property for, may construct and equip, and may sell, lease,
dedicate, with or without consideration, or otherwise transfer
lands, schools, classrooms, or other facilities, whether or not
within the new community district, from the authority to the
school district for school and related purposes;
(N) Prepare plans for acquisition and development of lands
and facilities, and enter into agreements with city, county, or
regional planning commissions to perform or obtain all or any part
of planning services for the new community district;
(O) Engage in planning for the new community district, which
may be predominantly residential and open space, and prepare or
approve a development plan or plans therefor, and engage in land
acquisitions and land development in accordance with such plan or
plans;
(P) Issue new community authority bonds and notes and
community authority refunding bonds, payable solely from the
income source provided in section 349.08 of the Revised Code,
unless the bonds are refunded by refunding bonds, for the purpose
of paying any part of the cost as applied to the new community
development program or parts thereof;
(Q) Enforce any covenants running with the land of which the
new community authority is the beneficiary, including but not
limited to the collection by any and all appropriate means of any
community development charge deemed to be a covenant running with
the land and enforceable by the new community authority pursuant
to section 349.07 of the Revised Code; and to waive, reduce, or
terminate any community development charge of which it is the
beneficiary to the extent not needed for any of the purposes
provided in section 349.07 of the Revised Code, the procedure for
which shall be provided in such covenants, and if new community
authority bonds have been issued pledging any such community
development charge, to the extent not prohibited in the resolution
authorizing the issuance of such new community authority bonds or
the trust agreement or indenture of mortgage securing the bonds;
(R) Appropriate for its use, under sections 163.01 to 163.22
of the Revised Code, any land, easement, rights, rights-of-way,
franchises, or other property in the new community district
required by the authority for community facilities. The authority
may not so appropriate any land, easement, rights, rights-of-way,
franchises, or other property that is not included in the new
community district.
(S) In the case of a new community authority established on
or within three years after the effective date of this amendment
and before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the 129th general assembly,
enter into any agreements as may be necessary, appropriate, or
useful to support a new community development program, including,
but not limited to, cooperative agreements or other agreements
with political subdivisions for services, materials, or products;
for the administration, calculation, or collection of community
development charges; or for sharing of revenue derived from
community development charges, community facilities, or other
sources. The agreements may be made with or without consideration
as the parties determine.
Sec. 349.14. Except as provided in section 349.03 of the
Revised Code, or as otherwise provided in a resolution adopted by
the organizational board of commissioners, of a new community
authority established on or within three years after the effective
date of this amendment and before January 1, 2012 H.B. 225 of the
129th general assembly, a new community authority organized under
this chapter may be dissolved only on the vote of a majority of
the voters of the new community district at a special election
called by the board of trustees on the question of dissolution.
Such an election may be called only after the board has determined
that the new community development program has been completed,
when no community authority bonds or notes are outstanding, and
other legal indebtedness of the authority has been discharged or
provided for, and only after there has been filed with the board
of trustees a petition requesting such election, signed by a
number of qualified electors residing in the new community
district equal to not less than eight per cent of the total vote
cast for all candidates for governor in the new community district
at the most recent general election at which a governor was
elected. If a majority of the votes cast favor dissolution, the
board of trustees shall, by resolution, declare the authority
dissolved and thereupon the community authority shall be
dissolved. A certified copy of the resolution shall, within
fifteen days after its adoption, be filed with the clerk of the
board of county commissioners of the county in which the petition
for the organization of the new community authority was filed.
Upon dissolution of a new community authority, the powers
thereof shall cease to exist. Any property of the new community
authority which that is located within the corporate limits of a
municipality shall vest in that municipal corporation and all
other property of the community authority shall vest in the county
in which said property is located. In the case of a new community
authority established within three years after the effective date
of H.B. 225 of the 129th general assembly, such property not
vested in a municipal corporation may also be vested in the
township where the property is located, or with the developer of
the new community authority or the developer's designee, as
provided in a resolution adopted by the organizational board of
commissioners. Any vesting of property in a township or county
shall be subject to acceptance of the property by resolution of
the board of township trustees or board of county commissioners,
as applicable. If the board of township trustees or board of
county commissioners declines to accept the property, the property
vests with the developer or the developer's designee. Any funds of
the community authority at the time of dissolution shall be
transferred to the municipal corporation and county or township,
as provided in a resolution, in which the new community district
is located in the proportion to the assessed valuation of taxable
real property of the new community authority within such municipal
corporation and county
or township as said valuation appears on
the current assessment rolls.
Sec. 505.603. The following applies until the department of
administrative services implements for townships the health care
plans under section 9.901 of the Revised Code. If those plans do
not include or address any benefits incorporated in this section,
the following provisions continue in effect for those benefits.
(A) In addition to or in lieu of providing benefits to
township officers and employees under section 505.60, 505.601, or
505.602 of the Revised Code, a board of township trustees may
offer benefits to officers and employees through a cafeteria plan
that meets the requirements of section 125 of the "Internal
Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 125, as
amended, after first adopting a policy authorizing an officer or
employee to receive a cash payment in lieu of a benefit otherwise
offered to township officers or employees under any of those
sections, but only if the cash payment does not exceed twenty-five
per cent of the cost of premiums or payments that otherwise would
be paid by the board for benefits for the officer or employee
under an offered policy, contract, or plan. No cash payment in
lieu of a benefit shall be made pursuant to this section unless
the officer or employee signs a statement affirming that the
officer or employee is covered under another health insurance or
health care policy, contract, or plan in the case of a health
benefit, or a life insurance policy in the case of a life
insurance benefit, and setting forth the name of the employer, if
any, that sponsors the coverage, the name of the carrier that
provides the coverage, and an identifying number of the applicable
policy, contract, or plan.
(B) In addition to providing the benefits to township
officers and employees under section 505.60, 505.601, or 505.602
of the Revised Code, a board of township trustees may offer a
health and wellness benefit program through which the township
provides a benefit or incentive to township officers, employees,
and their immediate dependents to maintain a healthy lifestyle,
including, but not limited to, programs to encourage healthy
eating and nutrition, exercise and physical activity, weight
control or the elimination of obesity, and cessation of smoking or
alcohol use.
(C) The township fiscal officer may deduct from a township
employee's salary or wages the amount authorized to be paid by the
employee for one or more qualified benefits available under
section 125 of the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 26 U.S.C. 125,
and under the sections listed in division (B) of this section, if
the employee authorizes in writing that the township fiscal
officer may deduct that amount from the employee's salary or
wages, and the benefit is offered to the employee on a group basis
and at least ten per cent of the township employees voluntarily
elect to participate in the receipt of that benefit. The township
fiscal officer may issue warrants for amounts deducted under this
division to pay program administrators or other insurers for
benefits authorized under this section or those sections listed in
division (B) of this section.
Sec. 3917.04. (A)(1) If any employee of a political
subdivision or district of this state, or of an institution
supported in whole or in part by public funds, authorizes in
writing the proper officer of the political subdivision, district,
or institution, of which the individual is an employee to deduct
from the employee's salary or wages the premium or portion of the
premium agreed to be paid by the employee to an insurer authorized
to do business in the state for life, endowment, accident, health,
or health and accident insurance, annuities, or hospitalization
insurance, or salary savings plan, the political subdivision,
district, or institution of which the individual is an employee
may deduct from the employee's salary or wages the premium or
portion of the premium agreed to be paid by that employee and pay
it to the insurer, provided that life, endowment, accident,
health, health and accident, and hospitalization insurance is
offered to the employee on a group basis and also that at least
ten per cent of the employees at any institution, or of any
political subdivision, or in any department, agency, bureau,
district, commission, or board voluntarily elect to participate in
that group insurance.
Division (A)(1) of this section does not apply to employees
paid by warrant of the director of budget and management.
(2) The proper officer of a political subdivision, district,
or institution of which an individual is an employee may issue
warrants covering salary or wage deductions that have been
authorized by the employee in favor of the insurer and in the
amount so authorized by the employee.
(B)(1) The department of administrative services shall only
offer employees paid by warrant of the director of budget and
management voluntary supplemental benefit plans that are selected
through a state-administered request for proposals process. If an
employee authorizes the director of administrative services, in
writing, to deduct the premium or a portion of the premium agreed
to be paid by the employee to a voluntary supplemental benefit
plan provider from the employee's salary or wages, the director
may deduct this amount from the employee's salary or wages and pay
it to the provider. Only those employees enrolled in a voluntary
supplemental benefit plan on or before the effective date of this
amendment June 30, 2006, may continue to participate in a plan
that was not selected through a state-administered request for
proposals process.
(2) The director of budget and management may issue warrants
covering salary or wage deductions that have been authorized by
employees paid by warrant of the director in favor of the
voluntary supplemental benefit plan provider in the amount
authorized by those employees.
(C) A county auditor may deduct from a county employee's
salary or wages the amount authorized to be paid by the employee
for one or more qualified benefits available under section 125 of
the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 26 U.S.C. 125, and other
benefits authorized under section 305.171 of the Revised Code, if
the employee authorizes in writing that the county auditor may
deduct that amount from the employee's salary or wages, and the
benefit is offered to the employee on a group basis and at least
ten per cent of the county employees voluntarily elect to
participate in the receipt of that benefit.
The county auditor may issue warrants for amounts deducted
under this division to pay program administrators or other
insurers for benefits authorized under this section.
Sec. 4931.41. (A)(1) A countywide 9-1-1 system shall include
all of the territory of the townships and municipal corporations
in the county and any portion of such a municipal corporation that
extends into an adjacent county.
(2) The system shall exclude any territory served by a
wireline service provider that is not capable of reasonably
meeting the technical and economic requirements of providing the
wireline telephone network portion of the countywide system for
that territory. The system shall exclude from enhanced 9-1-1 any
territory served by a wireline service provider that is not
capable of reasonably meeting the technical and economic
requirements of providing the wireline telephone network portion
of enhanced 9-1-1 for that territory. If a 9-1-1 planning
committee and a wireline service provider do not agree on whether
the provider is so capable, the committee shall notify the public
utilities commission, and the commission shall determine whether
the wireline service provider is so capable. The committee shall
ascertain whether such disagreement exists before making its
implementation proposal under division (A) of section 4931.43 of
the Revised Code. The commission's determination shall be in the
form of an order. No final plan shall require a wireline service
provider to provide the wireline telephone network portion of a
9-1-1 system that the commission has determined the provider is
not reasonably capable of providing.
(B) A countywide 9-1-1 system may be a basic or enhanced
9-1-1 system, or a combination of the two, and shall be for the
purpose of providing both wireline 9-1-1 and wireless 9-1-1.
(C) Every emergency service provider that provides emergency
service within the territory of a countywide 9-1-1 system shall
participate in the countywide system.
(D)(1) Each public safety answering point shall be operated
by a subdivision or a regional council of governments and shall be
operated constantly.
(2) A subdivision or a regional council of governments that
operates a public safety answering point shall pay all of the
costs associated with establishing, equipping, furnishing,
operating, and maintaining that facility and shall allocate those
costs among itself and the subdivisions served by the answering
point based on the allocation formula in a final plan. The
wireline service provider or other entity that provides or
maintains the customer premises equipment shall bill the operating
subdivision or the operating regional council of governments for
the cost of providing such equipment, or its maintenance. A
wireless service provider and a subdivision or regional council of
governments operating a public safety answering point may enter
into a service agreement for providing wireless enhanced 9-1-1
pursuant to a final plan adopted under sections 4931.40 to 4931.70
of the Revised Code.
(E) Except to the extent provided in a final plan that
provides for funding of a 9-1-1 system in part through charges
imposed under section 4931.51 of the Revised Code, each
subdivision served by a public safety answering point shall pay
the subdivision or regional council of governments that operates
the answering point the amount computed in accordance with the
allocation formula set forth in the final plan.
(F) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the purchase
or other acquisition, installation, and maintenance of the
telephone network for a 9-1-1 system and the purchase or other
acquisition, installation, and maintenance of customer premises
equipment at a public safety answering point made in compliance
with a final plan or an agreement under section 4931.48 of the
Revised Code, including customer premises equipment used to
provide wireless enhanced 9-1-1, are not subject to any
requirement of competitive bidding.
(G) Each emergency service provider participating in a
countywide 9-1-1 system shall maintain a telephone number in
addition to 9-1-1.
(H) Whenever a final plan provides for the implementation of
basic 9-1-1, the planning committee shall so notify the public
utilities commission, which shall determine whether the wireline
service providers serving the territory covered by the plan are
capable of reasonably meeting the technical and economic
requirements of providing the wireline telephone network portion
of an enhanced 9-1-1 system. The determination shall be made
solely for purposes of division (C)(2) of section 4931.47 of the
Revised Code.
(I) If the public safety answering point personnel reasonably
determine that a 9-1-1 call is not an emergency, the personnel
shall provide the caller with the telephone number of an
appropriate subdivision agency as applicable.
(J) A final plan adopted under sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of
the Revised Code, or an agreement under section 4931.48 of the
Revised Code, may provide that, by further agreement included in
the plan or agreement, the state highway patrol or one or more
public safety answering points of another 9-1-1 system is the
public safety answering point or points for the provision of
wireline or wireless 9-1-1 for all or part of the territory of the
9-1-1 system established under the plan or agreement. In that
event, the subdivision for which the wireline or wireless 9-1-1 is
provided as named in the agreement shall be deemed the subdivision
operating the public safety answering point or points for purposes
of sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised Code, except that,
for the purpose of division (D)(2) of this section, that
subdivision shall pay only so much of the costs of establishing,
equipping, furnishing, operating, or maintaining any such public
safety answering point as are specified in the agreement with the
patrol or other system.
(K) A final plan for the provision of wireless enhanced 9-1-1
shall provide that any wireless 9-1-1 calls routed to a state
highway patrol-operated public safety answering point by default,
due to a wireless service provider so routing all such calls of
its subscribers without prior permission, are instead to be routed
as provided under the plan. Upon the implementation of countywide
wireless enhanced 9-1-1 pursuant to a final plan, the state
highway patrol shall cease any functioning as a public safety
answering point providing wireless 9-1-1 within the territory
covered by the countywide 9-1-1 system so established, unless the
patrol functions as a public safety answering point providing
wireless enhanced 9-1-1 pursuant to an agreement included in the
plan as authorized under division (J) of this section.
Sec. 4931.43. (A) The 9-1-1 planning committee shall prepare
a proposal on the implementation of a countywide 9-1-1 system and
shall hold a public meeting on the proposal to explain the system
to and receive comments from public officials. At least thirty but
not more than sixty days before the meeting, the committee shall
send a copy of the implementation proposal and written notice of
the meeting:
(1) By certified mail, to the board of county commissioners,
the legislative authority of each municipal corporation in the
county, and to the board of trustees of each township in the
county; and
(2) To the board of trustees, directors, or park
commissioners of each subdivision that will be served by a public
safety answering point under the plan.
(B) The proposal and the final plan adopted by the committee
shall specify:
(1) Which telephone companies serving customers in the county
and, as authorized in division (A)(1) of section 4931.41 of the
Revised Code, in an adjacent county will participate in the 9-1-1
system;
(2) The location and number of public safety answering
points; how they will be connected to a company's telephone
network; from what geographic territory each will receive 9-1-1
calls; whether basic or enhanced 9-1-1 service will be provided
within such territory; what subdivisions will be served by the
answering point; and whether an answering point will respond to
calls by directly dispatching an emergency service provider, by
relaying a message to the appropriate provider, or by transferring
the call to the appropriate provider;
(3) Which subdivision or regional council of governments will
establish, equip, furnish, operate, and maintain a particular
public safety answering point;
(4) A projection of the initial cost of establishing,
equipping, and furnishing and of the annual cost of the first five
years of operating and maintaining each public safety answering
point;
(5) Whether the cost of establishing, equipping, furnishing,
operating, or maintaining each public safety answering point
should be funded through charges imposed under section 4931.51 of
the Revised Code or will be allocated among the subdivisions
served by the answering point and, if any such cost is to be
allocated, the formula for so allocating it;
(6) How each emergency service provider will respond to a
misdirected call.
(C) Following the meeting required by this section, the 9-1-1
planning committee may modify the implementation proposal and, no
later than nine months after the resolution authorized by section
4931.42 of the Revised Code is adopted, may adopt, by majority
vote, a final plan for implementing a countywide 9-1-1 system. If
a planning committee and wireline service provider do not agree on
whether the wireline service provider is capable of providing the
wireline telephone network as described under division (A) of
section 4931.41 of the Revised Code and the planning committee
refers that question to the public utilities commission, the
commission may extend the nine-month deadline established by this
division to twelve months. Immediately on completion of the plan,
the committee shall send a copy of the final plan:
(1) By certified mail to the board of county commissioners of
the county, to the legislative authority of each municipal
corporation in the county, and to the board of township trustees
of each township in the county; and
(2) To the board of trustees, directors, or park
commissioners of each subdivision that will be served by a public
safety answering point under the plan.
(D) If the committee has not adopted a final plan on or
before the deadline in division (C) of this section, the committee
shall cease to exist. A new 9-1-1 planning committee may be
convened in the manner established in section 4931.42 of the
Revised Code to develop an implementation proposal and final plan
in accordance with the requirements of sections 4931.42 to 4931.44
of the Revised Code.
Sec. 4931.44. (A) Within sixty days after receipt of the
final plan pursuant to division (C) of section 4931.43 of the
Revised Code, the board of county commissioners of the county and
the legislative authority of each municipal corporation in the
county and of each township whose territory is proposed to be
included in a countywide 9-1-1 system shall act by resolution to
approve or disapprove the plan, except that, with respect to a
final plan that provides for funding of the 9-1-1 system in part
through charges imposed under section 4931.51 of the Revised Code,
the board of county commissioners shall not act by resolution to
approve or disapprove the plan until after a resolution adopted
under section 4931.51 of the Revised Code has become effective as
provided in division (D) of that section. A municipal corporation
or township whose territory is proposed to be included in the
system includes any municipal corporation or township in which a
part of its territory is excluded pursuant to division (A)(2) of
section 4931.41 of the Revised Code. Each such authority
immediately shall notify the board of county commissioners in
writing of its approval or disapproval of the final plan. Failure
by a board or legislative authority to notify the board of county
commissioners of approval or disapproval within such sixty-day
period shall be deemed disapproval by the board or authority.
(B) As used in this division, "county's population" excludes
the population of any municipal corporation or township that,
under the plan, is completely excluded from 9-1-1 service in the
county's final plan. A countywide plan is effective if all of the
following entities approve the plan in accordance with this
section:
(1) The board of county commissioners;
(2) The legislative authority of a municipal corporation that
contains at least thirty per cent of the county's population, if
any;
(3) The legislative authorities of municipal corporations and
townships that contain at least sixty per cent of the county's
population or, if the plan has been approved by a municipal
corporation that contains at least sixty per cent of the county's
population, by the legislative authorities of municipal
corporations and townships that contain at least seventy-five per
cent of the county's population.
(C) After a countywide plan approved in accordance with this
section is adopted, all of the telephone companies and,
subdivisions, and regional councils of governments included in the
plan are subject to the specific requirements of the plan and to
sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 4931.45. (A) An amended final plan is required for any
of the following purposes:
(1) Expanding the territory included in the countywide 9-1-1
system;
(2) Upgrading any part or all of a system from basic to
enhanced wireline 9-1-1;
(3) Adjusting the territory served by a public safety
answering point;
(4) Permitting a regional council of governments to operate a
public safety answering point;
(5) Represcribing the funding of public safety answering
points as between the alternatives set forth in division (B)(5) of
section 4931.43 of the Revised Code;
(5)(6) Providing for wireless enhanced 9-1-1;
(6)(7) Adding a telephone company as a participant in a
countywide 9-1-1 system after the implementation of wireline 9-1-1
or wireless enhanced 9-1-1;
(7)(8) Providing that the state highway patrol or one or more
public safety answering points of another 9-1-1 system function as
a public safety answering point or points for the provision of
wireline or wireless 9-1-1 for all or part of the territory of the
system established under the final plan, as contemplated under
division (J) of section 4931.41 of the Revised Code;
(8)(9) Making any other necessary adjustments to the plan.
(B) Except as otherwise provided in division (C) of this
section, a final plan shall be amended in the manner provided for
adopting a final plan under sections 4931.42 to 4931.44 of the
Revised Code, including convening a 9-1-1 planning committee and
developing a proposed amended plan prior to adopting an amended
final plan.
(C)(1) To amend a final plan for the purpose described in
division (A)(6)(7) of this section, an entity that wishes to be
added as a participant in a 9-1-1 system shall file a written
letter of that intent with the board of county commissioners of
the county that approved the final plan. The final plan is deemed
amended upon the filing of that letter. The entity that files the
letter shall send written notice of that filing to all
subdivisions, regional councils of governments, and telephone
companies participating in the system.
(2) An amendment to a final plan for a purpose set forth in
division (A)(1), (3), (5)(6), or (8)(9) of this section may be
made by an addendum approved by a majority of the 9-1-1 planning
committee. The board of county commissioners shall call a meeting
of the 9-1-1 planning committee for the purpose of considering an
addendum pursuant to this division.
(3) Adoption of any resolution under section 4931.51 of the
Revised Code pursuant to a final plan that both has been adopted
and provides for funding through charges imposed under that
section is not an amendment of a final plan for the purpose of
this division.
(D) When a final plan is amended for a purpose described in
division (A)(1), (2), or (6)(7) of this section, sections 4931.47
and 5733.55 of the Revised Code apply with respect to the receipt
of the nonrecurring and recurring rates and charges for the
wireline telephone network portion of the 9-1-1 system.
Sec. 4931.49. (A)(1) The state, the state highway patrol, or
a subdivision, or a regional council of governments participating
in a 9-1-1 system established under sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of
the Revised Code and any officer, agent, employee, or independent
contractor of the state, the state highway patrol, or such a
participating subdivision or regional council of governments is
not liable in damages in a civil action for injuries, death, or
loss to persons or property arising from any act or omission,
except willful or wanton misconduct, in connection with
developing, adopting, or approving any final plan or any agreement
made under section 4931.48 of the Revised Code or otherwise
bringing into operation the 9-1-1 system pursuant to sections
4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised Code.
(2) The Ohio 9-1-1 council, the wireless 9-1-1 advisory
board, and any member of that council or board are not liable in
damages in a civil action for injuries, death, or loss to persons
or property arising from any act or omission, except willful or
wanton misconduct, in connection with the development or operation
of a 9-1-1 system established under sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of
the Revised Code.
(B) Except as otherwise provided in section 4765.49 of the
Revised Code, an individual who gives emergency instructions
through a 9-1-1 system established under sections 4931.40 to
4931.70 of the Revised Code, and the principals for whom the
person acts, including both employers and independent contractors,
public and private, and an individual who follows emergency
instructions and the principals for whom that person acts,
including both employers and independent contractors, public and
private, are not liable in damages in a civil action for injuries,
death, or loss to persons or property arising from the issuance or
following of emergency instructions, except where the issuance or
following of the instructions constitutes willful or wanton
misconduct.
(C) Except for willful or wanton misconduct, a telephone
company, and any other installer, maintainer, or provider, through
the sale or otherwise, of customer premises equipment, and their
respective officers, directors, employees, agents, and suppliers
are not liable in damages in a civil action for injuries, death,
or loss to persons or property incurred by any person resulting
from any of the following:
(1) Such an entity's or its officers', directors',
employees', agents', or suppliers' participation in or acts or
omissions in connection with participating in or developing,
maintaining, or operating a 9-1-1 system, whether that system is
established pursuant to sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised
Code or otherwise in accordance with schedules regarding 9-1-1
systems filed with the public utilities commission pursuant to
section 4905.30 of the Revised Code by a telephone company that is
a wireline service provider;
(2) Such an entity's or its officers', directors',
employees', agents', or suppliers' provision of assistance to a
public utility, municipal utility, or state or local government as
authorized by divisions (F)(4) and (5) of this section.
(D) No person shall knowingly use the telephone number of a
9-1-1 system established under sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the
Revised Code to report an emergency if the person knows that no
emergency exists.
(E) No person shall knowingly use a 9-1-1 system for a
purpose other than obtaining emergency service.
(F) No person shall disclose or use any information
concerning telephone numbers, addresses, or names obtained from
the data base that serves the public safety answering point of a
9-1-1 system established under sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the
Revised Code, except for any of the following purposes or under
any of the following circumstances:
(1) For the purpose of the 9-1-1 system;
(2) For the purpose of responding to an emergency call to an
emergency service provider;
(3) In the circumstance of the inadvertent disclosure of such
information due solely to technology of the wireline telephone
network portion of the 9-1-1 system not allowing access to the
data base to be restricted to 9-1-1 specific answering lines at a
public safety answering point;
(4) In the circumstance of access to a data base being given
by a telephone company that is a wireline service provider to a
public utility or municipal utility in handling customer calls in
times of public emergency or service outages. The charge, terms,
and conditions for the disclosure or use of such information for
the purpose of such access to a data base shall be subject to the
jurisdiction of the public utilities commission.
(5) In the circumstance of access to a data base given by a
telephone company that is a wireline service provider to a state
and local government in warning of a public emergency, as
determined by the public utilities commission. The charge, terms,
and conditions for the disclosure or use of that information for
the purpose of access to a data base is subject to the
jurisdiction of the public utilities commission.
Sec. 4931.50. (A) The attorney general, upon request of the
public utilities commission or on the attorney general's own
initiative, shall begin proceedings against a telephone company
that is a wireline service provider to enforce compliance with
sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised Code or with the terms,
conditions, requirements, or specifications of a final plan or of
an agreement under section 4931.48 of the Revised Code as to
wireline or wireless 9-1-1.
(B) The attorney general, upon the attorney general's own
initiative, or any prosecutor, upon the prosecutor's initiative,
shall begin proceedings against a subdivision or a regional
council of governments as to wireline or wireless 9-1-1 to enforce
compliance with sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised Code or
with the terms, conditions, requirements, or specifications of a
final plan or of an agreement under section 4931.48 of the Revised
Code as to wireline or wireless 9-1-1.
Sec. 4931.64. (A) Prior to the first disbursement under this
section and annually thereafter not later than the twenty-fifth
day of January, until the wireless 9-1-1 government assistance
fund is depleted, the Ohio 9-1-1 coordinator shall do both of the
following for the purposes of division (B) of this section:
(1) Determine, for a county that has adopted a final plan
under sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised Code for the
provision of wireless enhanced 9-1-1 within the territory covered
by the countywide 9-1-1 system established under the plan, the
number of wireless telephone numbers assigned to wireless service
subscribers that have billing addresses within the county. That
number shall be adjusted between any two counties so that the
number of wireless telephone numbers assigned to wireless service
subscribers who have billing addresses within any portion of a
municipal corporation that territorially lies primarily in one of
the two counties but extends into the other county is added to the
number already determined for that primary county and subtracted
for the other county.
(2) Determine each county's proportionate share of the
wireless 9-1-1 government assistance fund for the ensuing calendar
year on the basis set forth in division (B) of this section;
estimate the ensuing calendar year's fund balance; compute each
such county's estimated proceeds for the ensuing calendar year
based on its proportionate share and the estimated fund balance;
and certify such amount of proceeds to the county auditor of each
such county.
(B) The Ohio 9-1-1 coordinator, in accordance with this
division and not later than the last day of each month, shall
disburse the amount credited as remittances to the wireless 9-1-1
government assistance fund during the second preceding month, plus
any accrued interest on the fund. Such a disbursement shall be
paid to each county treasurer. The amount to be so disbursed
monthly to a particular county shall be a proportionate share of
the wireless 9-1-1 government assistance fund balance based on the
ratio between the following:
(1) The number of wireless telephone numbers determined for
the county by the coordinator pursuant to division (A) of this
section;
(2) The total number of wireless telephone numbers assigned
to subscribers who have billing addresses within this state. To
the extent that the fund balance permits, the disbursements to
each county shall total at least ninety thousand dollars annually.
(C)(1) Each county that has not adopted a final plan for the
provision of wireless enhanced 9-1-1 under sections 4931.40 to
4931.70 of the Revised Code shall be deemed as having done so for
the purposes of making the determinations under divisions (A)(1)
and (2) of this section.
(2) For each county described in division (C)(1) of this
section, the coordinator shall retain in the wireless 9-1-1
government assistance fund an amount equal to what would otherwise
be paid as the county's disbursements under division (B) of this
section if it had adopted such a final plan, plus any related
accrued interest, to be set aside for that county. If the board of
county commissioners notifies the coordinator prior to January 1,
2010, that a final plan for the provision of wireless enhanced
9-1-1 has been adopted, the coordinator shall disburse and pay to
the county treasurer, not later than the last day of the month
following the month the notification is made, the total amount so
set aside for the county plus any related accrued interest. As of
January 1, 2010, any money and interest so retained and not
disbursed as authorized under this division shall be available for
disbursement only as provided in division (B) of this section.
(D) Immediately upon receipt by a county treasurer of a
disbursement under division (B) or (C) of this section, the county
shall disburse, in accordance with the allocation formula set
forth in the final plan, the amount the county so received to any
other subdivisions in the county and any regional councils of
governments in the county that pay the costs of a public safety
answering point providing wireless enhanced 9-1-1 under the plan.
(E) Nothing in sections 4931.40 to 4931.70 of the Revised
Code affects the authority of a subdivision operating or served by
a public safety answering point of a 9-1-1 system or a regional
council of governments operating a public safety answering point
of a 9-1-1 system to use, as provided in the final plan for the
system or in an agreement under section 4931.48 of the Revised
Code, any other authorized revenue of the subdivision or the
regional council of governments for the purposes of providing
basic or enhanced 9-1-1.
Sec. 4931.65. Except as otherwise provided in section
4931.651 of the Revised Code:
(A) A countywide 9-1-1 system receiving a disbursement under
section 4931.64 of the Revised Code shall provide countywide
wireless enhanced 9-1-1 in accordance with sections 4931.40 to
4931.70 of the Revised Code beginning as soon as reasonably
possible after receipt of the first disbursement or, if that
service is already implemented, shall continue to provide such
service. Except as provided in divisions (B) and (C) of this
section, a disbursement shall be used solely for the purpose of
paying either or both of the following:
(1) Any costs of designing, upgrading, purchasing, leasing,
programming, installing, testing, or maintaining the necessary
data, hardware, software, and trunking required for the public
safety answering point or points of the 9-1-1 system to provide
wireless enhanced 9-1-1, which costs are incurred before or on or
after May 6, 2005, and consist of such additional costs of the
9-1-1 system over and above any costs incurred to provide wireline
9-1-1 or to otherwise provide wireless enhanced 9-1-1. Annually,
up to twenty-five thousand dollars of the disbursements received
on or after January 1, 2009, may be applied to data, hardware, and
software that automatically alerts personnel receiving a 9-1-1
call that a person at the subscriber's address or telephone number
may have a mental or physical disability, of which that personnel
shall inform the appropriate emergency service provider. On or
after the provision of technical and operational standards
pursuant to division (D)(1) of section 4931.68 of the Revised
Code, a regional council of governments operating a public safety
answering point or a subdivision shall consider the standards
before incurring any costs described in this division.
(2) Any costs of training the staff of the public safety
answering point or points to provide wireless enhanced 9-1-1,
which costs are incurred before or on or after May 6, 2005.
(B) Beginning one year following the imposition of the
wireless 9-1-1 charge under section 4931.61 of the Revised Code, a
subdivision or a regional council of governments that certifies to
the Ohio 9-1-1 coordinator that it has paid the costs described in
divisions (A)(1) and (2) of this section and is providing
countywide wireless enhanced 9-1-1 may use disbursements received
under section 4931.64 of the Revised Code to pay any of its
personnel costs of one or more public safety answering points
providing countywide wireless enhanced 9-1-1.
(C) After receiving its April 2013, disbursement under
section 4931.64 of the Revised Code, a regional council of
governments operating a public safety answering point or a
subdivision may use any remaining balance of disbursements it
received under that section to pay any of its costs of providing
countywide wireless 9-1-1, including the personnel costs of one or
more public safety answering points providing that service.
(D) The costs described in divisions (A), (B), and (C) of
this section may include any such costs payable pursuant to an
agreement under division (J) of section 4931.41 of the Revised
Code.
Sec. 4931.66. (A)(1) A telephone company, the state highway
patrol as described in division (J) of section 4931.41 of the
Revised Code, and each subdivision or regional council of
governments operating one or more public safety answering points
for a countywide system providing wireless 9-1-1, shall provide
the Ohio 9-1-1 coordinator with such information as the
coordinator requests for the purposes of carrying out the
coordinator's duties under sections 4931.60 to 4931.70 of the
Revised Code, including, but not limited to, duties regarding the
collection of the wireless 9-1-1 charge and regarding the
provision of a report or recommendation under section 4931.70 of
the Revised Code.
(2) A wireless service provider shall provide an official,
employee, agent, or representative of a subdivision or regional
council of governments operating a public safety answering point,
or of the state highway patrol as described in division (J) of
section 4931.41 of the Revised Code, with such technical, service,
and location information as the official, employee, agent, or
representative requests for the purpose of providing wireless
9-1-1.
(3) A subdivision or regional council of governments
operating one or more public safety answering points of a 9-1-1
system, and a telephone company, shall provide to the Ohio 9-1-1
council such information as the council requires for the purpose
of carrying out its duties under division (D) of section 4931.68
of the Revised Code.
(B)(1) Any information provided under division (A) of this
section that consists of trade secrets as defined in section
1333.61 of the Revised Code or of information regarding the
customers, revenues, expenses, or network information of a
telephone company shall be confidential and does not constitute a
public record for the purpose of section 149.43 of the Revised
Code.
(2) The public utilities commission, the Ohio 9-1-1
coordinator, and any official, employee, agent, or representative
of the commission, of the state highway patrol as described in
division (J) of section 4931.41 of the Revised Code, or of a
subdivision
or regional council of governments operating a public
safety answering point, while acting or claiming to act in the
capacity of the commission or coordinator or such official,
employee, agent, or representative, shall not disclose any
information provided under division (A) of this section regarding
a telephone company's customers, revenues, expenses, or network
information. Nothing in division (B)(2) of this section precludes
any such information from being aggregated and included in any
report required under section 4931.70 or division (D)(2) of
section 4931.69 of the Revised Code, provided the aggregated
information does not identify the number of any particular
company's customers or the amount of its revenues or expenses or
identify a particular company as to any network information.
Sec. 5101.01. (A) As used in the Revised Code, the
"department of public welfare" and the "department of human
services" mean the department of job and family services and the
"director of public welfare" and the "director of human services"
mean the director of job and family services. Whenever the
department or director of public welfare or the department or
director of human services is referred to or designated in any
statute, rule, contract, grant, or other document, the reference
or designation shall be deemed to refer to the department or
director of job and family services, as the case may be.
(B) As used in this chapter of the Revised Code:
(1) References to counties or to county departments of job
and family services include the joint county department of job and
family services established under section 329.40 of the Revised
Code.
(2) References to boards of county commissioners include
boards of directors of the joint department of job and family
services established under section 329.40 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 5705.13. (A) A taxing authority of a subdivision, by
resolution or ordinance, may establish reserve balance accounts to
accumulate currently available resources for the following
purposes:
(1) To stabilize subdivision budgets against cyclical changes
in revenues and expenditures;
(2) Except as otherwise provided by this section, to provide
for the payment of claims and deductibles under a an individual or
joint self-insurance program for the subdivision, if the
subdivision is permitted by law to establish such a program;
(3) To provide for the payment of claims, assessments, and
deductibles under a self-insurance program, individual
retrospective ratings plan, group rating plan, group retrospective
rating plan, medical only program, deductible plan, or large
deductible plan for workers' compensation.
The ordinance or resolution establishing a reserve balance
account shall state the purpose for which the account is
established, the fund in which the account is to be established,
and the total amount of money to be reserved in the account.
A subdivision that participates in a risk-sharing pool, by
which governments pool risks and funds and share in the costs of
losses, shall not establish a reserve balance account to provide
self-insurance for the subdivision.
Not more than one reserve balance account may be established
for each of the purposes permitted under divisions (A)(2) and (3)
of this section. Money to the credit of a reserve balance account
may be expended only for the purpose for which the account was
established.
A reserve balance account established for the purpose
described in division (A)(1) of this section may be established in
the general fund or in one or more special funds for operating
purposes of the subdivision. The amount of money to be reserved in
such an account in any fiscal year shall not exceed five per cent
of the revenue credited in the preceding fiscal year to the fund
in which the account is established, or, in the case of a reserve
balance account of a county or of a township, the greater of that
amount or one-sixth of the expenditures during the preceding
fiscal year from the fund in which the account is established.
Subject to division (G) of section 5705.29 of the Revised Code,
any reserve balance in an account established under division
(A)(1) of this section shall not be considered part of the
unencumbered balance or revenue of the subdivision under division
(A) of section 5705.35 or division (A)(1) of section 5705.36 of
the Revised Code.
At any time, a taxing authority of a subdivision, by
resolution or ordinance, may reduce or eliminate the reserve
balance in a reserve balance account established for the purpose
described in division (A)(1) of this section.
A reserve balance account established for the purpose
described in division (A)(2) or (3) of this section shall be
established in the general fund of the subdivision or by the
establishment of a separate internal service fund established to
account for the operation of the an individual or joint
self-insurance or retrospective ratings plan program described in
division (A)(2) of this section or a workers' compensation program
or plan described in division (A)(3) of this section, and shall be
based on sound actuarial principles. The total amount of money in
a reserve balance account for self-insurance may be expressed in
dollars or as the amount determined to represent an adequate
reserve according to sound actuarial principles.
A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or
ordinance, may rescind a reserve balance account established under
this division. If a reserve balance account is rescinded, money
that has accumulated in the account shall be transferred to the
fund or funds from which the money originally was transferred.
(B) A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or
ordinance, may establish a special revenue fund for the purpose of
accumulating resources for the payment of accumulated sick leave
and vacation leave, and for payments in lieu of taking
compensatory time off, upon the termination of employment or the
retirement of officers and employees of the subdivision. The
special revenue fund may also accumulate resources for payment of
salaries during any fiscal year when the number of pay periods
exceeds the usual and customary number of pay periods.
Notwithstanding sections 5705.14, 5705.15, and 5705.16 of the
Revised Code, the taxing authority, by resolution or ordinance,
may transfer money to the special revenue fund from any other fund
of the subdivision from which such payments may lawfully be made.
The taxing authority, by resolution or ordinance, may rescind a
special revenue fund established under this division. If a special
revenue fund is rescinded, money that has accumulated in the fund
shall be transferred to the fund or funds from which the money
originally was transferred.
(C) A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or
ordinance, may establish a capital projects fund for the purpose
of accumulating resources for the acquisition, construction, or
improvement of fixed assets of the subdivision. For the purposes
of this section, "fixed assets" includes motor vehicles. More than
one capital projects fund may be established and may exist at any
time. The ordinance or resolution shall identify the source of the
money to be used to acquire, construct, or improve the fixed
assets identified in the resolution or ordinance, the amount of
money to be accumulated for that purpose, the period of time over
which that amount is to be accumulated, and the fixed assets that
the taxing authority intends to acquire, construct, or improve
with the money to be accumulated in the fund.
A taxing authority of a subdivision shall not accumulate
money in a capital projects fund for more than ten years after the
resolution or ordinance establishing the fund is adopted. If the
subdivision has not entered into a contract for the acquisition,
construction, or improvement of fixed assets for which money was
accumulated in such a fund before the end of that ten-year period,
the fiscal officer of the subdivision shall transfer all money in
the fund to the fund or funds from which that money originally was
transferred or the fund that originally was intended to receive
the money.
A taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution or
ordinance, may rescind a capital projects fund. If a capital
projects fund is rescinded, money that has accumulated in the fund
shall be transferred to the fund or funds from which the money
originally was transferred.
Notwithstanding sections 5705.14, 5705.15, and 5705.16 of the
Revised Code, the taxing authority of a subdivision, by resolution
or ordinance, may transfer money to the capital projects fund from
any other fund of the subdivision that may lawfully be used for
the purpose of acquiring, constructing, or improving the fixed
assets identified in the resolution or ordinance.
Sec. 5705.392. (A) A board of county commissioners may adopt
as a part of its annual appropriation measure a spending plan, or
in the case of an amended appropriation measure, an amended
spending plan, setting forth a quarterly schedule of expenses and
expenditures of all appropriations for the fiscal year from the
county general fund. The spending plan shall be classified to set
forth separately a quarterly schedule of expenses and expenditures
for each office, department, and division, and within each, the
amount appropriated for personal services. Each office,
department, and division shall be limited in its expenses and
expenditures of moneys appropriated from the general fund during
any quarter by the schedule established in the spending plan. The
schedule established in the spending plan shall serve as a
limitation during a quarter on the making of contracts and giving
of orders involving the expenditure of money during that quarter
for purposes of division (D) of section 5705.41 of the Revised
Code.
(B)(1) A board of county commissioners, by resolution, may
adopt a spending plan or an amended spending plan setting forth
separately a quarterly schedule of expenses and expenditures of
appropriations from any county fund, except as provided in
division (C) of this section, for the second half of a fiscal year
and any subsequent fiscal year, for any county office, department,
or division that has spent or encumbered more than six-tenths of
the amount appropriated for personal services and payrolls during
the first half of any fiscal year.
(2) During any fiscal year, a board of county commissioners,
by resolution, may adopt a spending plan or an amended spending
plan setting forth separately a quarterly schedule of expenses and
expenditures of appropriations from any county fund, except as
provided in division (C) of this section, for any county office,
department, or division that, during the previous fiscal year,
spent one hundred ten per cent or more of the total amount
appropriated for personal services and payrolls by the board in
its annual appropriation measure required by section 5705.38 of
the Revised Code. The spending plan or amended spending plan shall
remain in effect two fiscal years, or until the county officer of
the office for which the plan was adopted is no longer in office,
including terms of office to which the county officer is
re-elected, whichever is later.
(3) At least thirty days before adopting a resolution under
division (B)(1) or (2) of this section, the board of county
commissioners shall provide written notice to each county office,
department, or division for which it intends to adopt a spending
plan or an amended spending plan. The notice shall be sent by
regular first class mail or provided by personal service, and
shall include a copy of the proposed spending plan or proposed
amended spending plan. The county office, department, or division
may meet with the board at any regular session of the board to
comment on the notice, or to express concerns or ask questions
about the proposed spending plan or proposed amended spending
plan.
(C) Division (B) of this section shall not apply to any fund
that is subject to rules adopted by the tax commissioner under
division (O) of section 5703.05 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 5713.07. The county auditor, at the time of making the
assessment of real property subject to taxation, shall enter in a
separate list pertinent descriptions of all burying grounds,
public schoolhouses, houses used exclusively for public worship,
institutions of purely public charity, real property used
exclusively for a home for the aged, as defined in section 5701.13
of the Revised Code, public buildings and property used
exclusively for any public purpose, and any other property, with
the lot or tract of land on which such house, institution, public
building, or other property is situated, and which have been
exempted from taxation by either the tax commissioner or auditor
under section 5715.27 of the Revised Code or by the housing
officer under section 3735.67 of the Revised Code. The auditor
shall value such houses, buildings, property, and lots and tracts
of land at their taxable value in the same manner as the auditor
is required to value other real property, designating in each case
the township, municipal corporation, and number of the school
district, or the name or designation of the school, religious
society, or institution to which each house, lot, or tract
belongs. If such property is held and used for other public
purposes, the auditor shall state by whom or how it is held.
Sec. 5713.08. (A) The county auditor shall make a list of
all real and personal property in the auditor's county that is
exempted from taxation. Such list shall show the name of the
owner, the value of the property exempted, and a statement in
brief form of the ground on which such exemption has been granted.
It shall be corrected annually by adding thereto the items of
property which have been exempted during the year, and by striking
therefrom the items which in the opinion of the auditor have lost
their right of exemption and which have been reentered on the
taxable list, but no property shall be struck from the exempt
property list solely because the property has been conveyed to a
single member limited liability company with a nonprofit purpose
from its nonprofit member or because the property has been
conveyed by a single member limited liability company with a
nonprofit purpose to its nonprofit member. No additions shall be
made to such exempt lists and no additional items of property
shall be exempted from taxation without the consent of the tax
commissioner as is provided for in section 5715.27 of the Revised
Code or without the consent of the housing officer under section
3735.67 of the Revised Code, except for property exempted by the
auditor under that section or qualifying agricultural real
property, as defined in section 5709.28 of the Revised Code, that
is enrolled in an agriculture security area that is exempt under
that section. The commissioner may revise at any time the list in
every county so that no property is improperly or illegally
exempted from taxation. The auditor shall follow the orders of the
commissioner given under this section. An abstract of such list
shall be filed annually with the commissioner, on a form approved
by the commissioner, and a copy thereof shall be kept on file in
the office of each auditor for public inspection.
An application for exemption of property shall include a
certificate executed by the county treasurer certifying one of the
following:
(1) That all taxes, interest, and penalties levied and
assessed against the property sought to be exempted have been paid
in full for all of the tax years preceding the tax year for which
the application for exemption is filed, except for such taxes,
interest, and penalties that may be remitted under division (C) of
this section;
(2) That the applicant has entered into a valid delinquent
tax contract with the county treasurer pursuant to division (A) of
section 323.31 of the Revised Code to pay all of the delinquent
taxes, interest, and penalties charged against the property,
except for such taxes, interest, and penalties that may be
remitted under division (C) of this section. If the auditor
receives notice under section 323.31 of the Revised Code that such
a written delinquent tax contract has become void, the auditor
shall strike such property from the list of exempted property and
reenter such property on the taxable list. If property is removed
from the exempt list because a written delinquent tax contract has
become void, current taxes shall first be extended against that
property on the general tax list and duplicate of real and public
utility property for the tax year in which the auditor receives
the notice required by division (A) of section 323.31 of the
Revised Code that the delinquent tax contract has become void or,
if that notice is not timely made, for the tax year in which falls
the latest date by which the treasurer is required by such section
to give such notice. A county auditor shall not remove from any
tax list and duplicate the amount of any unpaid delinquent taxes,
assessments, interest, or penalties owed on property that is
placed on the exempt list pursuant to this division.
(3) That a tax certificate has been issued under section
5721.32 or 5721.33 of the Revised Code with respect to the
property that is the subject of the application, and the tax
certificate is outstanding.
(B) If the treasurer's certificate is not included with the
application or the certificate reflects unpaid taxes, penalties,
and interest that may not be remitted, the tax commissioner or
county auditor with whom the application was filed shall notify
the property owner of that fact, and the applicant shall be given
sixty days from the date that notification was mailed in which to
provide the tax commissioner
or county auditor with a corrected
treasurer's certificate. If a corrected treasurer's certificate is
not received within the time permitted, the tax commissioner
or
county auditor does not have authority to consider the tax
exemption application.
(C) Any taxes, interest, and penalties which have become a
lien after the property was first used for the exempt purpose, but
in no case prior to the date of acquisition of the title to the
property by the applicant, may be remitted by the commissioner or
county auditor, except as is provided in division (A) of section
5713.081 of the Revised Code.
(D) Real property acquired by the state in fee simple is
exempt from taxation from the date of acquisition of title or date
of possession, whichever is the earlier date, provided that all
taxes, interest, and penalties as provided in the apportionment
provisions of section 319.20 of the Revised Code have been paid to
the date of acquisition of title or date of possession by the
state, whichever is earlier. The proportionate amount of taxes
that are a lien but not yet determined, assessed, and levied for
the year in which the property is acquired, shall be remitted by
the county auditor for the balance of the year from date of
acquisition of title or date of possession, whichever is earlier.
This section shall not be construed to authorize the exemption of
such property from taxation or the remission of taxes, interest,
and penalties thereon until all private use has terminated.
Sec. 5713.081. (A) No application for real property tax
exemption and tax remission shall be filed with, or considered by,
the tax commissioner or county auditor in which tax remission is
requested for more than three tax years, and the commissioner or
auditor shall not remit more than three years' taxes, penalties,
and interest.
(B) All taxes, penalties, and interest, that have been
delinquent for more than three years, appearing on the general tax
list and duplicate of real property which have been levied and
assessed against parcels of real property owned by the state, any
political subdivision, or any other entity whose ownership of real
property would constitute public ownership, shall be collected by
the county auditor of the county where the real property is
located. Such The auditor shall deduct from each distribution made
by the auditor, the amount necessary to pay the tax delinquency
from any revenues or funds to the credit of the state, any
political subdivision, or any other entity whose ownership of real
property would constitute public ownership thereof, passing under
the auditor's control, or which come into the auditor's
possession, and such deductions shall be made on a continuing
basis until all delinquent taxes, penalties, and interest noted in
this section have been paid.
(C) As used in division (B) of this section, "political
subdivision" includes townships, municipalities, counties, school
districts, boards of education, all state and municipal
universities, park boards, and any other entity whose ownership of
real property would constitute public ownership.
Sec. 5713.082. (A) Whenever the county auditor reenters an
item of property to the tax list as provided in section 5713.08 of
the Revised Code and there has been no conveyance of the property
between separate entities, the auditor shall send notice by
certified mail to the owner of the property that it is now subject
to property taxation as a result of such action. The auditor shall
send the notice at the same time the auditor certifies the real
property tax duplicate to the county treasurer. The notice shall
describe the property and indicate that the owner may reapply for
tax exemption by filing an application for exemption as provided
in section 5715.27 of the Revised Code, and that failure to file
such an application within the proper time period will result in
the owner having to pay the taxes even if the property continued
to be used for an exempt purpose.
(B) If the auditor failed to send the notice required by this
section, and if the owner of the property subsequently files an
application for tax exemption for the property for the current tax
year, the tax commissioner or county auditor may grant exemption
to the property, and the commissioner or auditor shall remit all
taxes and penalties for each prior year since the property was
reentered on the tax list, notwithstanding the provisions of
division (A) of section 5713.081 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 5715.13. The (A) Except as provided in division (B) of
this section, the county board of revision shall not decrease any
valuation unless a party affected thereby or who is authorized to
file a complaint under section 5715.19 of the Revised Code makes
and files with the board a written application therefor, verified
by oath, showing the facts upon which it is claimed such decrease
should be made.
(B) The county board of revision may authorize a policy for
the filing of an electronic complaint under section 5715.19 of the
Revised Code and the filing of an electronic application therefor
under this section, subject to the approval of the tax
commissioner. An electronic complaint need not be sworn to, but
shall contain an electronic verification and shall be subscribed
to by the person filing the complaint: "I declare under penalties
of perjury that this complaint has been examined by me and to the
best of my knowledge and belief is true, correct, and complete."
Sec. 5715.27. (A)(1) Except as provided in division (A)(2)
of this section and in section 3735.67 of the Revised Code, the
owner, a vendee in possession under a purchase agreement or a land
contract, the beneficiary of a trust, or a lessee for an initial
term of not less than thirty years of any property may file an
application with the tax commissioner, on forms prescribed by the
commissioner, requesting that such property be exempted from
taxation and that taxes, interest, and penalties be remitted as
provided in division (C) of section 5713.08 of the Revised Code.
(2) If the property that is the subject of the application
for exemption is any of the following, the application shall be
filed with the county auditor of the county in which the property
is listed for taxation:
(a) A public road or highway;
(b) Property belonging to the federal government of the
United States;
(c) Additions or other improvements to an existing building
or structure that belongs to the state or a political subdivision,
as defined in section 5713.081 of the Revised Code, and that is
exempted from taxation as property used exclusively for a public
purpose;
(d) Property of the boards of trustees and of the housing
commissions of the state universities, the northeastern Ohio
universities college of medicine, and of the state to be exempted
under section 3345.17 of the Revised Code.
(B) The board of education of any school district may request
the tax commissioner or county auditor to provide it with
notification of applications for exemption from taxation for
property located within that district. If so requested, the
commissioner or auditor shall send to the board on a monthly basis
reports that contain sufficient information to enable the board to
identify each property that is the subject of an exemption
application, including, but not limited to, the name of the
property owner or applicant, the address of the property, and the
auditor's parcel number. The commissioner or auditor shall mail
the reports by the fifteenth day of the month following the end of
the month in which the commissioner
or auditor receives the
applications for exemption.
(C) A board of education that has requested notification
under division (B) of this section may, with respect to any
application for exemption of property located in the district and
included in the commissioner's or auditor's most recent report
provided under that division, file a statement with the
commissioner or auditor and with the applicant indicating its
intent to submit evidence and participate in any hearing on the
application. The statements shall be filed prior to the first day
of the third month following the end of the month in which that
application was docketed by the commissioner or auditor. A
statement filed in compliance with this division entitles the
district to submit evidence and to participate in any hearing on
the property and makes the district a party for purposes of
sections 5717.02 to 5717.04 of the Revised Code in any appeal of
the commissioner's or auditor's decision to the board of tax
appeals.
(D) The commissioner or auditor shall not hold a hearing on
or grant or deny an application for exemption of property in a
school district whose board of education has requested
notification under division (B) of this section until the end of
the period within which the board may submit a statement with
respect to that application under division (C) of this section.
The commissioner or auditor may act upon an application at any
time prior to that date upon receipt of a written waiver from each
such board of education, or, in the case of exemptions authorized
by section 725.02, 1728.10, 5709.40, 5709.41, 5709.411, 5709.62,
5709.63, 5709.632, 5709.73, 5709.78, 5709.84, or 5709.88 of the
Revised Code, upon the request of the property owner. Failure of a
board of education to receive the report required in division (B)
of this section shall not void an action of the commissioner or
auditor with respect to any application. The commissioner or
auditor may extend the time for filing a statement under division
(C) of this section.
(E) A complaint may also be filed with the commissioner or
auditor by any person, board, or officer authorized by section
5715.19 of the Revised Code to file complaints with the county
board of revision against the continued exemption of any property
granted exemption by the commissioner or auditor under this
section.
(F) An application for exemption and a complaint against
exemption shall be filed prior to the thirty-first day of December
of the tax year for which exemption is requested or for which the
liability of the property to taxation in that year is requested.
The commissioner or auditor shall consider such application or
complaint in accordance with procedures established by the
commissioner, determine whether the property is subject to
taxation or exempt therefrom, and, if the commissioner makes the
determination, certify the commissioner's findings determination
to the auditor, who. Upon making the determination or receiving
the commissioner's determination, the auditor shall correct the
tax list and duplicate accordingly. If a tax certificate has been
sold under section 5721.32 or 5721.33 of the Revised Code with
respect to property for which an exemption has been requested, the
tax commissioner or auditor shall also certify the findings to the
county treasurer of the county in which the property is located.
(G) Applications and complaints, and documents of any kind
related to applications and complaints, filed with the tax
commissioner or county auditor under this section, are public
records within the meaning of section 149.43 of the Revised Code.
(H) If the commissioner or auditor determines that the use of
property or other facts relevant to the taxability of property
that is the subject of an application for exemption or a complaint
under this section has changed while the application or complaint
was pending, the commissioner or auditor may make the
determination under division (F) of this section separately for
each tax year beginning with the year in which the application or
complaint was filed or the year for which remission of taxes under
division (C) of section 5713.08 of the Revised Code was requested,
and including each subsequent tax year during which the
application or complaint is pending before the commissioner
or
auditor.
Sec. 5717.02. (A) Except as otherwise provided by law,
appeals from final determinations by the tax commissioner of any
preliminary, amended, or final tax assessments, reassessments,
valuations, determinations, findings, computations, or orders made
by the commissioner may be taken to the board of tax appeals by
the taxpayer, by the person to whom notice of the tax assessment,
reassessment, valuation, determination, finding, computation, or
order by the commissioner is required by law to be given, by the
director of budget and management if the revenues affected by such
that decision would accrue primarily to the state treasury, or by
the county auditors of the counties to the undivided general tax
funds of which the revenues affected by
such that decision would
primarily accrue. Appeals from the redetermination by the director
of development under division (B) of section 5709.64 or division
(A) of section 5709.66 of the Revised Code may be taken to the
board of tax appeals by the enterprise to which notice of the
redetermination is required by law to be given. Appeals from a
decision of the tax commissioner or county auditor concerning an
application for a property tax exemption may be taken to the board
of tax appeals by the applicant or by a school district that filed
a statement concerning such
that application under division (C) of
section 5715.27 of the Revised Code. Appeals from a
redetermination by the director of job and family services under
section 5733.42 of the Revised Code may be taken by the person to
which the notice of the redetermination is required by law to be
given under that section.
Such (B) The appeals shall be taken by the filing of a notice
of appeal with the board, and with the tax commissioner if the tax
commissioner's action is the subject of the appeal, with the
county auditor if the county auditor's action is the subject of
the appeal, with the director of development if that director's
action is the subject of the appeal, or with the director of job
and family services if that director's action is the subject of
the appeal. The notice of appeal shall be filed within sixty days
after service of the notice of the tax assessment, reassessment,
valuation, determination, finding, computation, or order by the
commissioner, property tax exemption determination by the
commissioner or the county auditor, or redetermination by the
director has been given as provided in section 5703.37, 5709.64,
5709.66, or 5733.42 of the Revised Code. The notice of
such
appeal may be filed in person or by certified mail, express mail,
or authorized delivery service. If the notice of such appeal is
filed by certified mail, express mail, or authorized delivery
service as provided in section 5703.056 of the Revised Code, the
date of the United States postmark placed on the sender's receipt
by the postal service or the date of receipt recorded by the
authorized delivery service shall be treated as the date of
filing. The notice of appeal shall have attached
thereto to it and
incorporated therein in it by reference a true copy of the notice
sent by the commissioner, county auditor, or director to the
taxpayer, enterprise, or other person of the final determination
or redetermination complained of, and shall also specify the
errors therein complained of, but failure to attach a copy of such
that notice and to incorporate it by reference in the notice of
appeal does not invalidate the appeal.
(C) Upon the filing of a notice of appeal, the tax
commissioner, county auditor, or the director, as appropriate,
shall certify to the board a transcript of the record of the
proceedings before the commissioner, auditor, or director,
together with all evidence considered by the commissioner,
auditor, or director in connection therewith with the proceedings.
Such
Those appeals or applications may be heard by the board at
its office in Columbus or in the county where the appellant
resides, or it may cause its examiners to conduct such
the
hearings and to report to it their findings for affirmation or
rejection.
(D) The board may order the appeal to be heard upon the
record and the evidence certified to it by the commissioner,
county auditor, or director, but upon the application of any
interested party the board shall order the hearing of additional
evidence, and it may make such
an investigation concerning the
appeal as that it considers proper.
Section 2. That existing sections 9.37, 9.482, 135.01,
135.143, 135.35, 167.03, 305.171, 305.23, 307.862, 307.88, 329.01,
330.04, 349.01, 349.03, 349.04, 349.06, 349.14, 505.603, 3917.04,
4931.41, 4931.43, 4931.44, 4931.45, 4931.49, 4931.50, 4931.64,
4931.65, 4931.66, 5101.01, 5705.13, 5705.392, 5713.07, 5713.08,
5713.081, 5713.082, 5715.13, 5715.27, and 5717.02 of the Revised
Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. The amendments to Chapter 349. of the Revised Code
enacted by this act apply to any proceedings commenced after the
amendments' effective date, and, so far as their provisions
support the actions taken, also apply to proceedings that on their
effective date are pending, in progress, or completed,
notwithstanding the applicable law previously in effect or any
provision to the contrary in a prior resolution, ordinance, order,
advertisement, notice, or other proceeding. Any proceedings
pending or in progress on the effective date of those amendments
shall be deemed to have been taken in conformity with the
amendment.
The authority provided in the amendments to Chapter 349. of
the Revised Code of this act provide additional and supplemental
provisions for the subject matter that may also be the subject of
other laws, and is supplemental to and not in derogation of any
similar authority provided by, derived from, or implied by, the
Ohio Constitution, or any other law, including laws amended by
this act, or any charter, order, resolution, or ordinance, and no
inference shall be drawn to negate the authority thereunder by
reason of express provisions contained in the amendments to
Chapter 349. of the Revised Code enacted by this act.
Section 4. The amendments by this act to sections 5713.07,
5713.08, 5713.081, 5713.082, 5715.27, and 5717.02 of the Revised
Code apply to applications for exemptions filed for tax year 2011
or thereafter.
Section 5. Section 5713.08 of the Revised Code is presented
in this act as a composite of the section as amended by both Sub.
H.B. 160 and Sub. H.B. 289 of the 127th General Assembly. The
General Assembly, applying the principle stated in division (B) of
section 1.52 of the Revised Code that amendments are to be
harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation, finds
that the composite is the resulting version of the section in
effect prior to the effective date of the section as presented in
this act.
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