To amend sections 325.31 and 5705.30 and to enact sections 319.70 and 5705.271 of the Revised Code to permit a county budget commission to authorize voluntary audits of county offices and make nonbinding recommendations regarding proposed county tax levies and budgets.

Section 1. That sections 325.31 and 5705.30 be amended and sections 319.70 and 5705.271 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 319.70. (A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, a county auditor shall, upon the request of the county budget commission, conduct an audit of the accounts of the county or of an agency, department, or elected office of the county.

(B)(1) The auditor shall not perform an audit of the county or of a county agency, department, or office at any time that the state auditor is in the process of auditing that county, agency, department, or office pursuant to Chapter 117. of the Revised Code.

(2) Judicial agencies and offices shall not be subject to an audit under this section.

(C) The county auditor shall conduct each audit in accordance with the generally accepted governmental auditing standards established in rules adopted by the auditor of state. Cooperation with an audit shall be voluntary on the part of the county or county agency, department, or office. The county auditor shall have no authority to compel, by subpoena or otherwise, an officer of the county or the county agency, department, or office to produce files, reports, or other records for the purpose of an audit performed under this section.

(D) At the conclusion of an audit performed under this section, the county auditor may complete an audit report that includes written recommendations for the improvement of the financial affairs of the audited county or county agency, department, or office. The county auditor may submit the audit report to the auditor of state with a request that the auditor of state perform a special audit of the county or county agency, department, or office pursuant to division (B) of section 117.11 of the Revised Code.

(E) The cost of an audit conducted under this section shall be paid from the real estate assessment fund created in section 325.31 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 325.31.  (A) On the first business day of each month, and at the end of the officer's term of office, each officer named in section 325.27 of the Revised Code shall pay into the county treasury, to the credit of the general county fund, on the warrant of the county auditor, all fees, costs, penalties, percentages, allowances, and perquisites collected by the officer's office during the preceding month or part thereof for official services, except the fees allowed the county auditor by division (C) of section 319.54 of the Revised Code, which shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the real estate assessment fund hereby created.

(B) Moneys to the credit of the real estate assessment fund may be expended, upon appropriation by the board of county commissioners, for the purpose of defraying one or more of the following:

(1) The cost incurred by the county auditor in assessing real estate pursuant to Chapter 5713. of the Revised Code and manufactured and mobile homes pursuant to Chapter 4503. of the Revised Code;

(2) At the county auditor's discretion, costs and expenses incurred by the county auditor in preparing the list of real and public utility property, in administering laws related to the taxation of real property and the levying of special assessments on real property, including administering reductions under Chapters 319. and 323. and section 4503.065 of the Revised Code, and to support assessments of real property in any administrative or judicial proceeding;

(3) At the county auditor's discretion, the expenses incurred by the county board of revision under Chapter 5715. of the Revised Code;

(4) At the county auditor's discretion, the expenses incurred by the county auditor for geographic information systems, mapping programs, and technological advances in those or similar systems or programs;

(5) At the county auditor's discretion, expenses incurred by the county auditor in compiling the general tax list of tangible personal property and administering tangible personal property taxes under Chapters 5711. and 5719. of the Revised Code;

(6) At the county auditor's discretion, costs, expenses, and fees incurred by the county auditor in the administration of estate taxes under Chapter 5731. of the Revised Code and the amounts incurred under section 5731.41 of the Revised Code;

(7) Expenses incurred by a county budget commission or county auditor in relation to any of the activities described in section 5705.271 of the Revised Code, including costs incurred by the county auditor in performing an audit of the county or an agency, department, or office of the county as provided in section 319.70 of the Revised Code.

Any expenditures made from the real estate assessment fund shall comply with rules that the tax commissioner adopts under division (O) of section 5703.05 of the Revised Code. Those rules shall include a requirement that a copy of any appraisal plans, progress of work reports, contracts, or other documents required to be filed with the tax commissioner shall be filed also with the board of county commissioners.

The board of county commissioners shall not transfer moneys required to be deposited in the real estate assessment fund to any other fund. Following an assessment of real property pursuant to Chapter 5713. of the Revised Code, or an assessment of a manufactured or mobile home pursuant to Chapter 4503. of the Revised Code, any moneys not expended for the purpose of defraying the cost incurred in assessing real estate or manufactured or mobile homes or for the purpose of defraying the expenses described in divisions (B)(2), (3), (4), (5), and (6), and (7) of this section, and thereby remaining to the credit of the real estate assessment fund, shall be apportioned ratably and distributed to those taxing authorities that contributed to the fund. However, no such distribution shall be made if the amount of such unexpended moneys remaining to the credit of the real estate assessment fund does not exceed five thousand dollars.

(C) None of the officers named in section 325.27 of the Revised Code shall collect any fees from the county. Each of such officers shall, at the end of each calendar year, make and file a sworn statement with the board of county commissioners of all such fees, costs, penalties, percentages, allowances, and perquisites which have been due in the officer's office and unpaid for more than one year prior to the date such statement is required to be made.

Sec. 5705.271. In addition to the other powers vested in county budget commissions by law, a commission may take any of the following actions upon an affirmative vote by the majority of the commission, including an affirmative vote by the county auditor:

(A) Request that the county auditor perform an audit of the county or a county agency, department, or elected office in accordance with section 319.70 of the Revised Code;

(B) As provided in division (B) of section 5705.30 of the Revised Code, review and make recommendations regarding the annual tax budget proposed by the board of county commissioners under sections 5705.28 to 5705.30 of the Revised Code;

(C) At any time before a board of county commissioners certifies a resolution to levy a tax to the county board of elections, make a recommendation to the board with regard to the millage rate of the proposed levy. The board of county commissioners may, but shall not be required to, make changes to a tax levy proposal based upon a recommendation made under this division.

Sec. 5705.30.  This section does not apply to a subdivision for which the county budget commission has waived the requirement to adopt a tax budget under section 5705.281 of the Revised Code.

(A) In addition to the information required by section 5705.29 of the Revised Code, the budget of each subdivision and school library district shall include such other information as is prescribed by the auditor of state. At least two copies of the budget shall be filed in the office of the fiscal officer of the subdivision for public inspection not less than ten days before its adoption by the taxing authority, and such taxing authority shall hold at least one public hearing thereon, of which public notice shall be given by at least one publication not less than ten days prior to the date of hearing in the official publication of such subdivision, or in a newspaper having general circulation in the subdivision. The budget, after adoption, shall be submitted to the county auditor on or before the twentieth day of July, or in the case of a school district, by the twentieth day of January. The tax commissioner may prescribe a later date for the submission of a subdivision's tax budget. Any subdivision that fails to submit its budget to the county auditor on or before the twentieth day of July, unless the commissioner on or before the twentieth day of July prescribes a later date for submission of the budget by that subdivision, shall not receive an apportionment from the undivided local government fund distribution for the ensuing calendar year, unless upon review of the matter the commissioner determines that the budget was adopted by the subdivision on or before the fifteenth day of July, but was not submitted to the county auditor by the twentieth day of July or the later time prescribed by the commissioner because of ministerial error by the subdivision or its officers, employees, or other representatives.

(B) Not less than ten days before a board of county commissioners adopts a tax budget for a county pursuant to this section, the board shall submit at least one copy of the proposed budget to the county budget commission. The commission may review the proposed budget and submit written recommendations to the board with regard to any of the information included in the budget. The board may, but shall not be required to, review the recommendations of the commission and amend the proposed tax budget in accordance with one or more such recommendations.

Section 2. That existing sections 325.31 and 5705.30 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.