Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5715.01 – Tax commissioner to supervise assessments by county auditors - rules and procedure - county board of revision

(A) The tax commissioner shall direct and supervise the assessment for taxation of all real property. The commissioner shall adopt, prescribe, and promulgate rules for the determination of true value and taxable value of real property by uniform rule for such values and for the determination of the current agricultural use value of land devoted exclusively to agricultural use.
1. (1) The uniform rules shall prescribe methods of determining the true value and taxable value of real property. The rules shall provide that in determining the true value of lands or improvements thereon for tax purposes, all facts and circumstances relating to the value of the property, its availability for the purposes for which it is constructed or being used, its obsolete character, if any, the income capacity of the property, if any, and any other factor that tends to prove its true value shall be used. In determining the true value of minerals or rights to minerals for the purpose of real property taxation, the tax commissioner shall not include in the value of the minerals or rights to minerals the value of any tangible personal property used in the recovery of those minerals.
2. (2) The uniform rules shall prescribe the method for determining the current agricultural use value of land devoted exclusively to agricultural use, which method shall reflect standard and modern appraisal techniques that take into consideration the productivity of the soil under normal management practices, typical cropping and land use patterns, the average price patterns of the crops and products produced and the typical production costs to determine the net income potential to be capitalized, and other pertinent factors. In determining the agricultural land capitalization rate to be applied to the net income potential from agricultural use, the commissioner shall use standard and modern appraisal techniques. In calculating the capitalization rate for any year, the commissioner shall comply with both of the following requirements:
  1. (a) The commissioner shall use an equity yield rate equal to the greater of (i) the average of the total rates of return on farm equity for the twenty-five most recent years for which those rates have been calculated and published by the United States department of agriculture economic research service or another published source or (ii) the loan interest rate the commissioner uses for that year to calculate the capitalization rate;
  2. (b) The commissioner shall assume that the holding period for agricultural land is twenty-five years for the purpose of computing buildup of equity or appreciation with respect to that land. The commissioner shall add to the overall capitalization rate a tax additur. The sum of the overall capitalization rate and the tax additur shall represent as nearly as possible the rate of return a prudent investor would expect from an average or typical farm in this state considering only agricultural factors. The commissioner shall annually determine and announce the overall capitalization rate, tax additur, agricultural land capitalization rate, and the individual components used in computing such amounts in a determination, finding, computation, or order of the commissioner published simultaneously with the commissioner's annual publication of the per-acre agricultural use values for each soil type.
3. (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter and Chapter 5713. of the Revised Code, the current agricultural use value of land devoted exclusively to agricultural use shall equal the following amounts for the years specified:
  1. (a) In counties that undergo a reappraisal or triennial update in 2017, the current agricultural use value of the land for each of the 2017, 2018, and 2019 tax years shall equal the sum of the following amounts:
    1. (i) The current agricultural use value of the land for that tax year, as determined under this section and section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and rules adopted pursuant those sections, without regard to the adjustment under division (A)(3)(a)(ii) of this section;
    2. (ii) One-half of the amount, if any, by which the value of the land for the 2016 tax year, as determined under this section, section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and the rules adopted pursuant those sections and issued by the tax commissioner for counties undergoing a reappraisal or triennial update in the 2016 tax year, exceeds the value determined under division (A)(3)(a)(i) of this section.
  2. (b) In counties that undergo a reappraisal or triennial update in 2018, the current agricultural use value of the land for each of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 tax years shall equal the sum of the following amounts:
    1. (i) The current agricultural use value of the land for that tax year, as determined under this section and section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and rules adopted pursuant those sections, without regard to the adjustment under division (A)(3)(b)(ii) of this section;
    2. (ii) One-half of the amount, if any, by which the value of the land for the 2017 tax year, as determined under this section, section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and the rules adopted pursuant those sections and issued by the tax commissioner for counties undergoing a reappraisal or triennial update in the 2017 tax year, exceeds the value determined under division (A)(3)(b)(i) of this section.
  3. (c) In counties that undergo a reappraisal or triennial update in 2019, the current agricultural use value of the land for each of the 2019, 2020, and 2021 tax years shall equal the sum of the following amounts:
    1. (i) The current agricultural use value of the land for that tax year, as determined under this section and section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and rules adopted pursuant those sections, without regard to the adjustment under division (A)(3)(c)(ii) of this section;
    2. (ii) One-half of the amount, if any, by which the value of the land for the 2018 tax year, as determined under this section, section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and the rules adopted pursuant those sections and issued by the tax commissioner for counties undergoing a reappraisal or triennial update in the 2018 tax year, exceeds the value determined under division (A)(3)(c)(i) of this section.
(B) The taxable value shall be that per cent of true value in money, or current agricultural use value in the case of land valued in accordance with section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, the commissioner by rule establishes, but it shall not exceed thirty-five per cent. The uniform rules shall also prescribe methods of making the appraisals set forth in section 5713.03 of the Revised Code. The taxable value of each tract, lot, or parcel of real property and improvements thereon, determined in accordance with the uniform rules and methods prescribed thereby, shall be the taxable value of the tract, lot, or parcel for all purposes of sections 5713.01 to 5713.26, 5715.01 to 5715.51, and 5717.01 to 5717.06 of the Revised Code. County auditors shall, under the direction and supervision of the commissioner, be the chief assessing officers of their respective counties, and shall list and value the real property within their respective counties for taxation in accordance with this section and sections 5713.03 and 5713.31 of the Revised Code and with such rules of the commissioner. There shall also be a board in each county, known as the county board of revision, which shall hear complaints and revise assessments of real property for taxation.
(C) The commissioner shall neither adopt nor enforce any rule that requires true value for any tax year to be any value other than the true value in money on the tax lien date of such tax year or that requires taxable value to be obtained in any way other than by reducing the true value, or in the case of land valued in accordance with section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, its current agricultural use value, by a specified, uniform percentage.