To amend sections 9.65, 319.301, 505.43, 505.51, 742.33, 742.34, and 5705.26 and to enact section 5705.73 of the Revised Code to authorize subdivisions to levy a fixed-sum emergency property tax for police, fire, or emergency medical services purposes.

Section 1. That sections 9.65, 319.301, 505.43, 505.51, 742.33, 742.34, and 5705.26 be amended and section 5705.73 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 9.65.  (A) A board of township trustees, a board of fire district trustees of a joint fire district, or the legislative authority of a municipal corporation may establish, by resolution or ordinance, as appropriate, an annuity program for the volunteer fire fighters serving the political subdivision, including those affiliated with a private entity that provides fire-fighting or emergency medical services. The program may permit the board or the legislative authority to contract for, purchase, or otherwise procure from an insurer or insurers licensed to do business by this state an annuity for such fire fighters. The program may also permit the board or the legislative authority at any time to cancel or otherwise terminate an annuity with any particular insurer or insurers. The board or the legislative authority may pay all or any portion of the cost, premium, or charge of the annuity. The board or the legislative authority may create a fund in the treasury of the township, the joint fire district, or the municipal corporation, as appropriate, for the annuity program. The resolution or ordinance creating the program shall include a plan to assure the proper administration and operation of the program. The plan shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) The requirements a person must meet in order to be eligible to participate in the program;

(2) The requirements an eligible person must meet annually in order to participate in the program;

(3) A requirement that an audit of the accounts, financial reports, records, and files pertaining to the program be performed in the same manner and with the same frequency that an audit of a public office is performed under section 117.11 of the Revised Code. The audit required under division (A)(3) of this section shall be in addition to and separate from any audit of a township, joint fire district, or municipal corporation required under section 117.11 of the Revised Code but may be performed at the same time as such an audit.

(4) Provisions for termination of the program.

(B) A political subdivision that has established an annuity program under division (A) of this section may appropriate general revenue fund moneys of the political subdivision not appropriated for any other purpose to the annuity program and may use moneys raised under section 505.37, 505.371, or 505.39, or 5705.73 or under division (I) or (U) of section 5705.19 of the Revised Code for the annuity program. Income from the investment of moneys in any fund established in the treasury of a political subdivision for the annuity program shall be paid into the annuity fund.

(C) As used in this section:

(1) "Volunteer fire fighter" means a person who performs service as a fire fighter, or who performs emergency medical service, on a less than full-time basis for a political subdivision.

(2) "Political subdivision" means a municipal corporation, a township, a township fire district, or a joint fire district.

Sec. 319.301.  (A) The reductions required by division (D) of this section do not apply to any of the following:

(1) Taxes levied at whatever rate is required to produce a specified amount of tax money, including a tax levied under section 5705.199, 5705.211, 5705.73, or 5748.09 of the Revised Code, or an amount to pay debt charges;

(2) Taxes levied within the one per cent limitation imposed by Section 2 of Article XII, Ohio Constitution;

(3) Taxes provided for by the charter of a municipal corporation.

(B) As used in this section:

(1) "Real property" includes real property owned by a railroad.

(2) "Carryover property" means all real property on the current year's tax list except:

(a) Land and improvements that were not taxed by the district in both the preceding year and the current year;

(b) Land and improvements that were not in the same class in both the preceding year and the current year.

(3) "Effective tax rate" means with respect to each class of property:

(a) The sum of the total taxes that would have been charged and payable for current expenses against real property in that class if each of the district's taxes were reduced for the current year under division (D)(1) of this section without regard to the application of division (E)(3) of this section divided by

(b) The taxable value of all real property in that class.

(4) "Taxes charged and payable" means the taxes charged and payable prior to any reduction required by section 319.302 of the Revised Code.

(C) The tax commissioner shall make the determinations required by this section each year, without regard to whether a taxing district has territory in a county to which section 5715.24 of the Revised Code applies for that year. Separate determinations shall be made for each of the two classes established pursuant to section 5713.041 of the Revised Code.

(D) With respect to each tax authorized to be levied by each taxing district, the tax commissioner, annually, shall do both of the following:

(1) Determine by what percentage, if any, the sums levied by such tax against the carryover property in each class would have to be reduced for the tax to levy the same number of dollars against such property in that class in the current year as were charged against such property by such tax in the preceding year subsequent to the reduction made under this section but before the reduction made under section 319.302 of the Revised Code. In the case of a tax levied for the first time that is not a renewal of an existing tax, the commissioner shall determine by what percentage the sums that would otherwise be levied by such tax against carryover property in each class would have to be reduced to equal the amount that would have been levied if the full rate thereof had been imposed against the total taxable value of such property in the preceding tax year. A tax or portion of a tax that is designated a replacement levy under section 5705.192 of the Revised Code is not a renewal of an existing tax for purposes of this division.

(2) Certify each percentage determined in division (D)(1) of this section, as adjusted under division (E) of this section, and the class of property to which that percentage applies to the auditor of each county in which the district has territory. The auditor, after complying with section 319.30 of the Revised Code, shall reduce the sum to be levied by such tax against each parcel of real property in the district by the percentage so certified for its class. Certification shall be made by the first day of September except in the case of a tax levied for the first time, in which case certification shall be made within fifteen days of the date the county auditor submits the information necessary to make the required determination.

(E)(1) As used in division (E)(2) of this section, "pre-1982 joint vocational taxes" means, with respect to a class of property, the difference between the following amounts:

(a) The taxes charged and payable in tax year 1981 against the property in that class for the current expenses of the joint vocational school district of which the school district is a part after making all reductions under this section;

(b) The following percentage of the taxable value of all real property in that class:

(i) In 1987, five one-hundredths of one per cent;

(ii) In 1988, one-tenth of one per cent;

(iii) In 1989, fifteen one-hundredths of one per cent;

(iv) In 1990 and each subsequent year, two-tenths of one per cent.

If the amount in division (E)(1)(b) of this section exceeds the amount in division (E)(1)(a) of this section, the pre-1982 joint vocational taxes shall be zero.

As used in divisions (E)(2) and (3) of this section, "taxes charged and payable" has the same meaning as in division (B)(4) of this section and excludes any tax charged and payable in 1985 or thereafter under sections 5705.194 to 5705.197 or section 5705.199, 5705.213, 5705.219, or 5748.09 of the Revised Code.

(2) If in the case of a school district other than a joint vocational or cooperative education school district any percentage required to be used in division (D)(2) of this section for either class of property could cause the total taxes charged and payable for current expenses to be less than two per cent of the taxable value of all real property in that class that is subject to taxation by the district, the commissioner shall determine what percentages would cause the district's total taxes charged and payable for current expenses against that class, after all reductions that would otherwise be made under this section, to equal, when combined with the pre-1982 joint vocational taxes against that class, the lesser of the following:

(a) The sum of the rates at which those taxes are authorized to be levied;

(b) Two per cent of the taxable value of the property in that class. The auditor shall use such percentages in making the reduction required by this section for that class.

(3)(a) If in the case of a joint vocational school district any percentage required to be used in division (D)(2) of this section for either class of property could cause the total taxes charged and payable for current expenses for that class to be less than the designated amount, the commissioner shall determine what percentages would cause the district's total taxes charged and payable for current expenses for that class, after all reductions that would otherwise be made under this section, to equal the designated amount. The auditor shall use such percentages in making the reductions required by this section for that class.

(b) As used in division (E)(3)(a) of this section, the designated amount shall equal the taxable value of all real property in the class that is subject to taxation by the district times the lesser of the following:

(i) Two-tenths of one per cent;

(ii) The district's effective rate plus the following percentage for the year indicated:

(F) No reduction shall be made under this section in the rate at which any tax is levied.

(G) The commissioner may order a county auditor to furnish any information the commissioner needs to make the determinations required under division (D) or (E) of this section, and the auditor shall supply the information in the form and by the date specified in the order. If the auditor fails to comply with an order issued under this division, except for good cause as determined by the commissioner, the commissioner shall withhold from such county or taxing district therein fifty per cent of state revenues to local governments pursuant to section 5747.50 of the Revised Code or shall direct the department of education to withhold therefrom fifty per cent of state revenues to school districts pursuant to Chapter 3317. of the Revised Code. The commissioner shall withhold the distribution of such revenues until the county auditor has complied with this division, and the department shall withhold the distribution of such revenues until the commissioner has notified the department that the county auditor has complied with this division.

(H) If the commissioner is unable to certify a tax reduction factor for either class of property in a taxing district located in more than one county by the last day of November because information required under division (G) of this section is unavailable, the commissioner may compute and certify an estimated tax reduction factor for that district for that class. The estimated factor shall be based upon an estimate of the unavailable information. Upon receipt of the actual information for a taxing district that received an estimated tax reduction factor, the commissioner shall compute the actual tax reduction factor and use that factor to compute the taxes that should have been charged and payable against each parcel of property for the year for which the estimated reduction factor was used. The amount by which the estimated factor resulted in an overpayment or underpayment in taxes on any parcel shall be added to or subtracted from the amount due on that parcel in the ensuing tax year.

A percentage or a tax reduction factor determined or computed by the commissioner under this section shall be used solely for the purpose of reducing the sums to be levied by the tax to which it applies for the year for which it was determined or computed. It shall not be used in making any tax computations for any ensuing tax year.

(I) In making the determinations under division (D)(1) of this section, the tax commissioner shall take account of changes in the taxable value of carryover property resulting from complaints filed under section 5715.19 of the Revised Code for determinations made for the tax year in which such changes are reported to the commissioner. Such changes shall be reported to the commissioner on the first abstract of real property filed with the commissioner under section 5715.23 of the Revised Code following the date on which the complaint is finally determined by the board of revision or by a court or other authority with jurisdiction on appeal. The tax commissioner shall account for such changes in making the determinations only for the tax year in which the change in valuation is reported. Such a valuation change shall not be used to recompute the percentages determined under division (D)(1) of this section for any prior tax year.

Sec. 505.43.  In order to obtain police protection, or to obtain additional police protection, any township may enter into a contract with one or more townships, municipal corporations, park districts created pursuant to section 511.18 or 1545.01 of the Revised Code, county sheriffs, joint police districts, or with a governmental entity of an adjoining state upon any terms that are agreed to by them, for services of police departments or use of police equipment, or the interchange of the service of police departments or use of police equipment within the several territories of the contracting subdivisions, if the contract is first authorized by respective boards of township trustees or other legislative bodies. The cost of the contract may be paid for from the township general fund or from funds received pursuant to the passage of a levy authorized pursuant to division (J) of section 5705.19 and section 5705.25 or section 5705.73 of the Revised Code.

Chapter 2744. of the Revised Code, insofar as it is applicable to the operation of police departments, applies to the contracting political subdivisions and police department members when the members are rendering service outside their own subdivision pursuant to the contract.

Police department members acting outside the subdivision in which they are employed may participate in any pension or indemnity fund established by their employer to the same extent as while acting within the employing subdivision, and are entitled to all the rights and benefits of Chapter 4123. of the Revised Code, to the same extent as while performing service within the subdivision.

The contract may provide for a fixed annual charge to be paid at the times agreed upon and stipulated in the contract.

Sec. 505.51.  (A) In the case of a township police district, the board of trustees of the township police district may levy a tax upon all of the taxable property in the township police district pursuant to sections 5705.19 and 5705.25 or section 5705.73 of the Revised Code to defray all or a portion of expenses of the township police district in providing police protection.

(B) In the case of a joint police district, the joint police district board may levy a tax upon all of the taxable property in the joint police district pursuant to sections 5705.19 and 5705.25 or section 5705.73 of the Revised Code to defray all or a portion of expenses of the joint police district in providing police protection.

Sec. 742.33.  (A) Each employer shall pay monthly, on such dates as the board of trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund requires, from its general fund, or from a levy imposed pursuant to division (J) or (W) of section 5705.19 or section 5705.73 of the Revised Code, to the fund an amount known as the "police officer employers' contribution," which shall be nineteen and one-half per cent of the salaries as defined in division (L) of section 742.01 of the Revised Code of the members of the police department of the employer.

(B) The taxing authority of each municipal corporation in which there was a police relief and pension fund on October 1, 1965, shall annually, in the manner provided for making other municipal levies and in addition to all other levies authorized by law, levy a tax of three-tenths of one mill upon all the real and personal property as listed for taxation in the municipal corporation for the purpose of paying the police officer employers' contribution and the municipal corporation's accrued liability for its former police relief and pension fund and interest thereon, and of defraying the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation. The annual revenues derived from the tax shall be used in the following order:

(1) First, to pay the current police officer employers' contribution and any interest related thereto;

(2) Second, to pay any accrued liability chargeable to the municipal corporation during the current calendar year for its former police relief and pension fund and any interest related thereto;

(3) Third, to defray the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation.

Sec. 742.34.  (A) Each employer shall pay monthly, on such dates as the board of trustees of the Ohio police and fire pension fund requires, from its general fund, or from a levy imposed pursuant to division (I) or (W) of section 5705.19 or section 5705.73 of the Revised Code, to the fund an amount known as the "firefighter employers' contribution," which shall be twenty-four per cent of the salaries as defined in division (L) of section 742.01 of the Revised Code of the members of the fire department of the employer.

(B) The taxing authority of each municipal corporation in which there was a firemen's relief and pension fund on October 1, 1965, shall annually, in the manner provided for making other municipal levies and in addition to all other levies authorized by law, levy a tax of three-tenths of one mill upon all the real and personal property as listed for taxation in the municipal corporation for the purpose of paying the firefighter employers' contribution and the municipal corporation's accrued liability for its former firemen's relief and pension fund and interest thereon, and of defraying the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation. The annual revenues derived from the tax shall be used in the following order:

(1) First, to pay the current firefighter employers' contribution and any interest related thereto;

(2) Second, to pay any accrued liability chargeable to the municipal corporation during the current calendar year for its former firemen's relief and pension fund and any interest related thereto;

(3) Third, to defray the current operating expenses of the municipal corporation.

Sec. 5705.26.  Except as otherwise provided in section 5705.191 of the Revised Code, if the majority of the electors voting on a levy authorized by sections 5705.19 to 5705.25 and section 5705.73 of the Revised Code vote in favor of such levy at such election, the taxing authority of the subdivision may levy a tax within the subdivision or, in the case of a qualifying library levy, within the library district or association library district, at the additional rate in excess of the ten-mill limitation during the period and for the purpose stated in the resolution, or at any less rate, or for any of said years or purposes; provided that levies for payment of debt charges shall not exceed the amount necessary for such charges on the indebtedness mentioned in the resolution. If such levy is for the payment of charges on debts incurred prior to January 1, 1935, in excess of the ten-mill limitation but within the fifteen-mill limitation, the taxing authority of said subdivision shall levy in excess of the ten-mill limitation such tax if a majority of the electors voting on the levy vote in favor thereof.

Sec. 5705.73.  The taxing authority of a subdivision, except for a city, local, exempted village, cooperative education, or joint vocational school district or a county school financing district, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of the taxing authority, at any time may declare by resolution that the revenue that will be raised by all tax levies that the subdivision is authorized to impose will be insufficient to provide for the emergency requirements of the subdivision or to avoid an operating deficit, and that it is therefore necessary to levy a tax in excess of the ten-mill limitation. The resolution shall be confined to one of the purposes described in division (I), (J), (U), or (JJ) of section 5705.19 of the Revised Code and shall specify that purpose.

If the levy is proposed to renew all or a portion of the proceeds derived from one or more existing levies imposed pursuant to this section, it shall be called a renewal levy and shall be so designated on the ballot. If two or more existing levies are to be included in a single renewal levy but are not scheduled to expire in the same year, the resolution shall specify that the existing levies to be renewed shall not be levied after the year preceding the year in which the renewal levy is first imposed. If the original purpose of any one or more existing levies that are to be in any single renewal levy was to provide for emergency requirements or to avoid an operating deficit, the purpose of the renewal levy may be either to avoid an operating deficit or to provide for the emergency requirements.

The resolution shall specify the amount of money it is necessary to raise for the specified purpose for each year the millage is to be imposed; if a renewal levy, whether the levy is to renew all, or a portion of, the proceeds derived from one or more existing levies; and the number of years in which the millage is to be in effect, which may include a levy upon the current year's tax list. The number of years may be any number not exceeding five.

The resolution shall go into immediate effect upon its passage, and no publication of the resolution shall be necessary other than that provided for in the notice of election. A copy of the resolution shall immediately after its adoption be certified to the county auditor of the proper county or counties. Within five days after the resolution is certified to the county auditor, the auditor shall calculate and certify to the taxing authority the annual levy, expressed in dollars and cents for each one hundred dollars of valuation and in mills for each one dollar of valuation, throughout the life of the levy that will be required to produce the annual amount set forth in the resolution assuming that the amount of the tax list of the subdivision remains throughout the life of the levy the same as the amount of the tax list for the current year, and if this is not determined, the estimated amount submitted by the auditor to the county budget commission.

Upon receiving the certification from the county auditor, if the taxing authority desires to proceed with the submission of the question it shall, not less than ninety days before the day of the election, certify its resolution to the board of elections, together with the amount of the average tax levy, expressed in dollars and cents for each one hundred dollars of valuation and in mills for each one dollar of valuation, estimated by the auditor, and the number of years the levy is to run. The board of elections shall prepare the ballots and make other necessary arrangements for the submission of the question to the voters of the subdivision.

The question may be submitted to electors at a general election or a special election held on a date consistent with section 3501.01 of the Revised Code.

The form of the ballot to be used at the election shall be as follows:

"Shall a levy be imposed by the . . . . . . . . . . (name of subdivision) for the purpose of . . . . . . . . . . (purpose of levy) in the sum of . . . . . . . . . . (annual amount the levy is to produce) and a levy of taxes to be made outside of the ten-mill limitation estimated by the county auditor to average . . . . . . . . . . (number of mills) mills for each one dollar of valuation, which amounts to . . . . . . . . . . (rate expressed in dollars and cents) for each one hundred dollars of valuation, for a period of . . . . . . . . . . (the number of years the millage is to be imposed) years?

FOR THE TAX LEVY

AGAINST THE TAX LEVY"

The purpose for which the tax is to be levied shall be printed in the space indicated, in boldface type of at least twice the size of the type immediately surrounding it.

If the tax is to be placed on the current tax list, the form of the ballot shall be modified by adding, after "years," the phrase ", commencing in . . . . . . . . . . (first year the tax is to be levied), first due in calendar year . . . . . . . . . . (first calendar year in which the tax shall be due)."

If the levy submitted is a proposal to renew all or a portion of an existing levy, the form of the ballot specified in this section may be changed by adding the following at the beginning of the form, after the words "shall a levy":

(A) "Renewing an existing levy" in the case of a proposal to renew an existing levy in the same amount;

(B) "Renewing . . . . . . . . . . dollars and providing an increase of . . . . . . . . . . dollars" in the case of an increase;

(C) "Renewing part of an existing levy, being a reduction of . . . . . . . . . . dollars" in the case of a renewal of only part of an existing levy.

If the levy submitted is a proposal to renew all or a portion of more than one existing levy, the form of the ballot may be changed in any of the manners provided in division (A), (B), or (C) of this section, or any combination of those manners, as appropriate, so long as the form of the ballot reflects the number of levies to be renewed, whether the amount of any of the levies will be increased or decreased, the amount of any such increase or decrease for each levy, and that none of the existing levies to be renewed will be levied after the year preceding the year in which the renewal levy is first imposed. The form of the ballot shall be changed by adding the following statement after "for a period of . . . . . . . . . years?" and before "For the Tax Levy" and "Against the Tax Levy":

"If approved, any remaining tax years on any of the above . . . . . . . . . . (the number of existing levies) existing levies will not be collected after . . . . . . . . . . (the current tax year or, if not the current tax year, the applicable tax year)."

After the approval of the levy and before the first tax collection from the levy can be made, the taxing authority may anticipate a fraction of the proceeds of the levy and issue anticipation notes in an amount not exceeding the total estimated proceeds of the levy to be collected during the first year of the levy.

The notes shall be issued as provided in section 133.24 of the Revised Code, shall have principal payments during each year after the year of their issuance over a period not to exceed five years, and may have principal payments in the year of their issuance.

Section 2.  That existing sections 9.65, 319.301, 505.43, 505.51, 742.33, 742.34, and 5705.26 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.