Section 5739.023 | Transit authority tax levy.

• Effective: October 17, 2019
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 166 - 133rd General Assembly

(A)(1) For the purpose of providing additional general revenues for a transit authority, funding a regional transportation improvement project under section 5595.06 of the Revised Code, or funding public infrastructure projects as described in section 306.353 of the Revised Code, and to pay the expenses of administering such levy, any transit authority may levy a tax upon every retail sale made in the territory of the transit authority, except sales of watercraft and outboard motors required to be titled pursuant to Chapter 1548. of the Revised Code and sales of motor vehicles, and may increase the rate of an existing tax. The rate of any tax levied pursuant to this section shall be a multiple of one-twentieth of one per cent. The rate shall not exceed one and one-half per cent minus the amount by which the rate levied under section 5739.021 of the Revised Code by a county located in the territory of the transit authority exceeds one per cent. The tax shall be levied and the rate increased pursuant to a resolution of the legislative authority of the transit authority and a certified copy of the resolution shall be delivered by the fiscal officer to the board of elections as provided in section 3505.071 of the Revised Code and to the tax commissioner. The resolution shall specify the number of years for which the tax is to be in effect or that the tax is for a continuing period of time, the purpose or purposes of the levy, and the date of the election on the question of the tax pursuant to section 306.70 of the Revised Code. The board of elections shall certify the results of the election to the transit authority and tax commissioner.

A resolution adopted under this section may not specify that the sole purpose of the tax is to fund infrastructure projects as described in section 306.353 of the Revised Code; that purpose must be combined with the purpose of providing additional general revenues for the transit authority, funding a regional transportation improvement project under section 5595.06 of the Revised Code, or both. The resolution may specify the percentage of the proceeds of the tax that will be allocated among each of the purposes for which the tax is to be levied. If one of the purposes of the tax is to provide general revenue for the transit authority, the resolution may identify specific projects, functions, or other uses to which that general revenue will be allocated and the percentage of the tax proceeds to be allocated to each of those projects, functions, or other uses.

(2) Except as provided in division (C) of this section, the tax levied by the resolution shall become effective on the first day of a calendar quarter next following the sixty-fifth day following the date the tax commissioner receives from the board of elections the certification of the results of the election on the question of the tax.

(B) The legislative authority may, at any time while the tax is in effect, by resolution fix the rate of the tax at any rate authorized by this section and not in excess of that approved by the voters pursuant to section 306.70 of the Revised Code. Except as provided in division (C) of this section, any change in the rate of the tax shall be made effective on the first day of a calendar quarter next following the sixty-fifth day following the date the tax commissioner receives the certification of the resolution; provided, that in any case where bonds, or notes in anticipation of bonds, of a regional transit authority have been issued under section 306.40 of the Revised Code without a vote of the electors while the tax proposed to be reduced was in effect, the board of trustees of the regional transit authority shall continue to levy and collect under authority of the original election authorizing the tax a rate of tax that the board of trustees reasonably estimates will produce an amount in that year equal to the amount of principal of and interest on those bonds as is payable in that year.

(C) Upon receipt from the board of elections of the certification of the results of the election required by division (A) of this section, or from the legislative authority of the certification of a resolution under division (B) of this section, the tax commissioner shall provide notice of a tax rate change in a manner that is reasonably accessible to all affected vendors. The commissioner shall provide this notice at least sixty days prior to the effective date of the rate change. The commissioner, by rule, may establish the method by which notice will be provided.

(D) If a vendor makes a sale in this state by printed catalog and the consumer computed the tax on the sale based on local rates published in the catalog, any tax levied or rate changed under this section shall not apply to such a sale until the first day of a calendar quarter following the expiration of one hundred twenty days from the date of notice by the tax commissioner pursuant to division (C) of this section.

(E) The tax on every retail sale subject to a tax levied pursuant to this section is in addition to the tax levied by section 5739.02 of the Revised Code and any tax levied pursuant to section 5739.021 or 5739.026 of the Revised Code.

(F) The additional tax levied by the transit authority shall be collected pursuant to section 5739.025 of the Revised Code.

(G) Any tax levied pursuant to this section is subject to the exemptions provided in section 5739.02 of the Revised Code and in addition shall not be applicable to sales not within the taxing power of a transit authority under the constitution of the United States or the constitution of this state.

(H) The rate of a tax levied under this section is subject to reduction under section 5739.028 of the Revised Code, if a ballot question is approved by voters pursuant to that section.

Available Versions of this Section

• September 6, 2012 – House Bill 508 - 129th General Assembly
• September 29, 2017 – Amended by House Bill 49 - 132nd General Assembly
• March 23, 2018 – Amended by House Bill 69 - 132nd General Assembly
• July 3, 2019 – Amended by House Bill 62 - 133rd General Assembly
• October 17, 2019 – Amended by House Bill 166 - 133rd General Assembly