Property Tax Abatements, Exemptions, and Reductions
Types of Exemptions
1
Property Tax Exemption
Property tax exemptions are granted by the State of Ohio for qualifying organizations based on the specific use of the property.
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Ownership or building type alone do not qualify a property for a property tax exemption.
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As a note, Special Assessments are not considered taxes for this purpose and a property that is otherwise exempt from taxation may still be required to pay Special Assessments.
2
Community Reinvestment Area (CRA)
Certain areas of Lucas County are designated as a Community Reinvestment Area. This means that property owners in that area may apply with the local municipality for a property tax exemption on improvements to a property for a specified period of time.
Typically, these are applied to new construction, which means that the property tax increases for the improvements being built are not paid for a certain number of years.
3
Enterprise Zone (EZ)
Enterprise Zones work similarly to CRAs, but they are applied to new construction specifically on large commercial projects.
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Property owners may apply with the local municipality for a property tax exemption on improvements to a property for a specified period of time.
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Any approval of an Enterprise Zone is done by the local municipality, not by the Lucas County Auditor's Office.
Property Tax Exemption Applications
What is a TIF?
TIF stands for Tax Increment Financing and it is a property tax redirection.
TIFs are sometimes referred to as property tax exemptions, however, the way they work means that property owners still receive a tax bill every year for the same amount they would otherwise pay if they were not in a TIF area. TIFs redirect tax dollars from where they are originally designated to a separate project for improvement designated by the local municipality.
Tax Incentive Review Council (TIRC)
The Tax Incentive Review Council (TIRC) meets annually and tracks tax incentives (usually property tax abatement) that are granted to development projects. The TIRC is comprised of each county government municipality/township along with representatives of the corresponding school districts, and up to 2 community representatives who reside in the jurisdiction.
The TIRC provides a means for determining whether the recipients are fulfilling their obligations, which may include economic development performance (construction investment, job/payroll creation) and payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to public school districts.
If the owner of property that has received a property tax incentive is not performing its obligations, the TIRC may recommend that the local political jurisdiction (city, township, etc.) terminate the tax abatement.