Columbus Dispatch: Ohio needs relief from skyrocketing property taxes. Don't hold your breath. | Opinion

Constituents reach out to me daily about how their property taxes have skyrocketed, sometimes increasing as much as 500% in a year.

Two years ago, the Ohio General Assembly created the Joint Committee on Property Tax Review and Reform to study the complexities of Ohio’s property tax law and develop comprehensive solutions.

I was happy when I was appointed to serve on this committee so I could fight for my constituents on the issues that matter most to them.

The committee met seven times to hear testimony. Then there were no meetings or proposals for months until finally, last week, the committee released its final report.

The report included 30 pages of background explaining the history of Ohio’s property tax law and detailing every change it has had in Ohio’s history. It also included over 800 pages of testimony and 21 policy recommendations that the report itself says are contradictory.

One thing that was missing from the report? Any serious vision or proposals that will help Ohioans.

The words on the pages of the report itself are fine. I disagree with some of the policy recommendations, but that is natural during the legislative process.

I even signed on to a letter that was broadly supportive of the recommendations. What I take real issue with is the fact that this committee didn’t actually DO ANYTHING to address the underlying problems.

We listened to dozens of speakers talk about how the system is broken and how we need to fix it, and then instead of proposing legislation, the committee stopped meeting and released “recommendations” that only indicated more items to “review” and “consider.”

Now, when the budget comes, instead of one or two proposals that have been thoroughly debated and honed during the committee process — which was the express purpose of the committee when it was formed — there will be a dozen different proposed “solutions” to the property tax crisis, and no one will know which proposals are any good.

In a budget cycle where we are looking at huge shortfalls, alongside the new speaker of the House certainly continuing to expand his billion-dollar boondoggle of a voucher program, many of my colleagues and I are worried that there will be no property tax relief for struggling Ohioans at all.

The fault is not with the co-chairs of the committee, who seem genuinely interested in solving the problem.

It lies with the leadership of both chambers — who actually control what committees meet and what bills they hear. Because last year the General Assembly was too busy focusing on cutting deals with special interests and passing culture war legislation to spend any time fixing dinner table issues.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that is going to change at all in the new year.

I will not stop fighting for Ohioans who are struggling over their rising property tax rates.

Last year, I introduced and worked on several bills that would help, from increasing the homestead exemption to freezing the tax rates on seniors and veterans. I look forward to working with any of my colleagues to finally get a comprehensive solution passed.

Maybe I will be wrong, and something will be passed during the budget process to solve all of the issues my constituents are facing — but I won’t hold my breath.

Read the full column via The Columbus Dispatch.