OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
S.B. 75 Bill Analysis
135th General Assembly
Click here for S.B. 75’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Passed by the Senate
Primary Sponsor: Sen. Blessing
Effective date:
Andrew Little, Attorney
SUMMARY
 Authorizes a joint economic development district (JEDD) comprised of solely
municipalities if one of them meets at least two distress criteria and both are within
close proximity to each other.
 Requires voter approval of a municipal-only JEDD contract if the JEDD is in a municipal
corporation that either does not levy an income tax or levies an income tax at a rate of
1% or less.
 Allows such a municipal corporation to create a JEDD without voter approval, subject to
a petition-initiated referendum, if certain requirements are met.
 Replaces the township representative on the board of directors of a municipal-only
JEDD with a second municipal representative.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
A joint economic development district (JEDD) is a territorial district created by multiple
local governments who enter into a contract. A JEDD is governed by a board of directors, which
may extend and levy a member municipality’s income tax within the district to promote
economic development or redevelopment, create or preserve jobs, and improve the economic
welfare of the district. JEDD income tax revenue may be used to enhance infrastructure in the
area surrounding the district, provide new and additional services and facilities to the district,
and supplement the revenue of the local governments that create the JEDD. Under the most
common JEDD arrangement, a municipal corporation that levies an income tax enters into a
contract with a township whereby the municipality’s income tax is extended to territory of the
township. In essence, such a JEDD allows a township to collect revenue from a municipal
income tax that it is unable to independently levy.
Under continuing law, there are three sets of procedures that may be used to create a
JEDD. Two are “restricted” and limited to political subdivisions that meet specific requirements.
April 3, 2024
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The bill does not affect those procedures, it applies only to the general procedure that may be
used by any municipal corporations and townships that are located in the same or adjacent
counties.
Municipal-only JEDD eligibility
The bill specifically authorizes the creation of a JEDD comprised solely of municipal
corporations. It is unclear whether such a municipality-exclusive JEDD is permissible under
current law. For a municipal-only JEDD to be formed under the bill, the area from one of the
municipal corporations that is to be included in the JEDD must meet certain “distress” criteria
and the two municipal corporations must meet criteria regarding their proximity to each other.
The “distress” criteria are any two from a list of criteria used to determine whether a
local government may designate a particular area as an enterprise zone. (Under continuing law,
improvements and businesses with an enterprise zone are subject to partial property tax
exemptions and, in some cases, other tax incentives.) Those criteria are:
 The municipal corporation is a principal city of a metropolitan statistical area;
 The municipal corporation is in a county designated as being in the federally designated
Appalachian Region;
 The average rate of unemployment in the area during the most recent 12 months for
which data are available, equals at least 125% of the average rate for the state for the
same period;
 There is a prevalence of commercial or industrial structures in the area that are vacant
or demolished, or are vacant and the taxes charged thereon are delinquent, and
certification of the area as an enterprise zone would likely result in the reduction of the
rate of vacant or demolished structures or the rate of tax delinquency in the area;
 The population of the area, according to the 2000 census, decreased by at least 10%
between 1980 and 2000;
 At least 51% of the area’s residents have incomes less than 80% of the median income
of residents in the municipal corporation;
 The area contains structures previously used for industrial purposes, but not currently
used as such due to age, obsolescence, deterioration, relocation of the former
occupant’s operations, or cessation of operations resulting from unfavorable economic
conditions either generally or in a specific economic sector;
 The area is located within one or more adjacent city, local, or exempted village school
districts, each of which has an income-weighted tax capacity that is less than 70% of the
average of the income-weighted tax capacity of all city, local, or exempted village school
districts in the state according to the most recent data available from the Department of
Taxation.
The proximity requirements mandate that, if a municipal-only JEDD is to be formed, the
territory of each member municipal corporation must be at least partially within the same
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county. Each member municipality must also be contiguous to another member municipality, or
contiguous to a township that is contiguous to one of those municipalities.1
The effect of a municipal-only JEDD would be to allow a municipality that levies no
income tax or levies a tax with a rate of 1% or less to create an area in which a second
municipality’s higher income tax rate would apply. Similar to a municipal-township JEDD, this
arrangement would create a stream of development revenue for that no-tax or low-tax
municipality.
Municipal-only JEDD voter approval or rejection
When a JEDD is formed between a township and municipal corporation, continuing law
requires the JEDD’s creation be submitted to the township’s voters for approval unless certain
requirements are met. Those are:
 The board of township trustees approves the resolution authorizing the JEDD
unanimously;
 A majority of the property owners in the proposed JEDD have signed petitions seeking
its creation;
 The territory to be included in the JEDD is zoned in a manner appropriate to the JEDD’s
functions.
If a township approves a JEDD without voter approval, its creation is subject to a petition-
initiated referendum.
The bill extends the voter-approval requirement, and exception, to municipal
corporations attempting to form a municipal-only JEDD in municipal territory that is not already
subject to a municipal income tax above 1% – the threshold above which municipal income
taxes are subject to voter approval generally.2 In other words, if such a JEDD is proposed in the
territory of a municipal corporation, and that municipal corporation does not already levy an
income tax above the 1% cap, the JEDD must be submitted for voter approval in that municipal
corporation unless exception criteria are satisfied. The same exceptions to voter approval that
currently exist for townships proposing JEDDs, and the possibility of a petition-initiated
referendum, are extended to municipal-only JEDDs under the bill.3
Municipal-only JEDD board membership
If a JEDD is formed among only municipal corporations, the bill requires that the board
of director seat that would normally represent the township or townships in the JEDD be filled
by a second representative to represent the municipal corporations that make up the JEDD.
Under continuing law, the board makeup varies depending on whether there are businesses or
1 R.C. 715.72(A)(1), (C)(1), and (C)(3); R.C. 5709.61, not in the bill.
2 R.C. 718.04(C)(2), not in the bill.
3 R.C. 715.72(M) and (N).
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employees located in the JEDD, but in either case, one board member is required to represent
member municipal corporations and, under current law, one member represents member
townships.4
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 02-28-23
Reported, S. Local Government 10-10-23
Passed Senate (29-1) 10-11-23
ANSB0075PS-135/ar
4 R.C. 715.72(P)(1)(b) and (P)(2)(b).
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Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 715.72
As Reported By Senate Committee: 715.72
As Passed By Senate: 715.72