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No Standing By.
Understanding Your Property Tax Bill
Every property tax bill in Ohio runs through the same four-step chain. Understand this chain, and you understand your whole bill.
The Two Layers Hiding Inside "Mills"
Layer 1 — The Constitutional Cap (Unvoted)
The Ohio Constitution caps unvoted ("inside") millage at 10 mills total — and that cap is shared across every overlapping government touching your property: county, township, and school district's unvoted share alike. Nobody gets 10 mills to themselves. The county's 2.9 mills is our fixed slice of that shared, capped pool — set by formula decades ago, not something any commissioner can unilaterally raise.
Layer 2 — Voted Levies (Outside the Cap)
Everything above that constitutional 10-mill cap requires a public vote. This is where school levies, the county's DD and EMS levies, and city/village levies come from — the bulk of your total bill, and all of it decided at the ballot box, not by the Commission alone.
Valuation % Change
This is how much the county says your home is now worth — a re-pricing based on recent sales in your area. It has nothing to do with the tax rate. It changes the size of the pie.
The County's Millage Rate
This is the rate the Commission applies to whatever your home's value happens to be. It's flat across all 39 taxing districts in the county — and it does not move on its own.
Here's the part that matters: the valuation percentage and the millage rate are not added together — they multiply. When your value goes up 42%, the county doesn't raise its rate one bit — it doesn't have to. The same 2.9 mills, applied to a bigger number, collects more money automatically. No vote. No public hearing on that specific dollar increase. No decision by anyone currently sitting on the Commission.
A typical South Point-area bill runs about 43.05 total mills. Here's how that's split — and why the county's own slice is the smallest piece on the plate:
People assume property tax is the county's main funding source. It isn't. Here's the real breakdown — pulled straight from the County's audited 2024 Annual Financial Report.
General Fund Revenue — Where the Money Comes From
General Fund Spending — Where the Money Goes ($18.8M total, 2024)
Every three years the Auditor re-prices property based on real sales. In several districts, the State's Department of Taxation stepped in and ordered a higher number than the county proposed. Where a state order exists, it replaces the county figure — it is not added on top of it.
| District | County Estimate | State-Ordered Final |
|---|---|---|
| Lawrence Twp | 27.55% | 42.27% |
| Elizabeth Twp | 22.20% | 33.51% |
| Coal Grove | 7.06% | 27.61% |
| Ironton | 17.39% | 22.93% |
| South Point | 15.81% | 20.45% |
| Decatur Twp | 14.68% | 18.75% |
| Proctorville | 0.48% | −25.00% |
| Windsor Twp | 27.05% | — no order — |
| Upper Twp | 26.29% | — no order — |
| Symmes Twp | 23.86% | — no order — |
A Credit Is Coming — But Nobody Can Tell You How Much Yet
Ohio's House Bill 186 creates a new credit meant to soften these valuation jumps. Here's what's confirmed, and what isn't:
Confirmed: The credit applies to your second-half 2025 bill only this year (first and second half in future years).
Not yet known: The Ohio Department of Taxation has not released what the credit amount actually is — so as of this writing, the Auditor's own office cannot tell you how much you'll save.
The County Auditor reviews real sales in your neighborhood and proposes a value change — the "County Estimate" column above.
The State Department of Taxation reviews the county's work. If they judge it too conservative against statewide sales data, they can issue an order requiring a higher final number.
Where an order exists, every parcel in that district is increased to the ordered amount — replacing the county's number, not stacking on top of it.
The county's 2.9 mills then applies to that new value, same as it always has — collecting more real dollars with a rate that, on paper, never moved.
Ohio law already protects voted school levies from windfall revenue when values rise — that's the "effective rate" reduction you'll see on your bill. The county's unvoted inside millage has no such protection. As your commissioner, I'll push to use the local rollback authority available under Ohio HB 96 so rising valuations don't become a back-door tax increase nobody voted for. Same commitment behind the Ohio Checkbook transparency model: if the money's moving, you should be able to see it — plain numbers, plain language, no strings attached. I'll fight for real relief and the accountability to back it up — because you deserve to know exactly where every dollar goes.
Paid for by Friends of Mike Bias · EIN 42-3241072
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