Chapter 727 | Assessments - Generally

Each municipal corporation shall have special power to levy and collect special assessments. The legislative authority of a municipal corporation may assess upon the abutting, adjacent, and contiguous, or other specially benefited, lots or lands in the municipal corporation, any part of the cost connected with the improvement of any street, alley, dock, wharf, pier, public road, place, boulevard, parkway, or park entrance or an easement of the municipal corporation available for the purpose of the improvement to be made in it by grading, draining, curbing, paving, repaving, repairing, treating the surface with substances designed to lay the dust on it or preserve it, constructing sidewalks, piers, wharves, docks, retaining walls, sewers, sewage disposal works and treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, water treatment plants, water pumping stations, reservoirs, and water storage tanks or standpipes, together with the facilities and appurtenances necessary and proper therefor, drains, storm-water retention basins, watercourses, water mains, or laying of water pipe, or the lighting, sprinkling, sweeping, or cleaning thereof, or removing snow therefrom, any part of the cost and expense of planting, maintaining, and removing shade trees thereupon; any part of the cost of a voluntary action, as defined in section 3746.01 of the Revised Code, undertaken pursuant to Chapter 3746. of the Revised Code by a special improvement district created under Chapter 1710. of the Revised Code, including the cost of acquiring property with respect to which the voluntary action is undertaken; any part of the cost and expense of constructing, maintaining, repairing, cleaning, and enclosing ditches; any part of the cost and expense of operating, maintaining, and replacing heating and cooling facilities for enclosed pedestrian canopies and malls; any part of the cost and expense of acquiring and improving parking facilities and structures for off-street parking of motor vehicles or of acquiring land and improving it by clearing, grading, draining, paving, lighting, erecting, constructing, and equipping it for parking facilities and structures for off-street parking of motor vehicles, to the extent authorized by section 717.05 of the Revised Code, but only if no special assessment made for the purpose of developing off-street parking facilities and structures is levied against any land being used solely for off-street parking or against any land used solely for single or two-family dwellings; any part of the cost and expense of operating and maintaining the off-street parking facilities and structures; and any part of the cost connected with changing the channel of, or narrowing, widening, dredging, deepening, or improving, any stream or watercourse, and for constructing or improving any levees or boulevards on any stream or watercourse, or along or about any stream or watercourse, together with any retaining wall, riprap protection, bulkhead, culverts, approaches, flood gates, waterways, or drains incidental to any stream or watercourse, or for making any other improvement of any river or lake front, whether it is privately or publicly owned, which the legislative authority declares conducive to the public health, convenience, or welfare. If a program grant is awarded for an eligible project under sections 122.40 to 122.4077 of the Revised Code, a municipal corporation may levy, against dwellings that are subject to the project, a special assessment for the purpose of providing a contribution from the municipal corporation towards the funding gap for the project. The assessment shall be at a rate that will produce a total assessment that is not more than the municipal corporation's contribution towards the funding gap for the eligible project as described in the application under section 122.4020 of the Revised Code. In addition, a municipal corporation may levy a special assessment for public improvement or public services plans of a district formed under Chapter 1710. of the Revised Code, as provided in that chapter. In addition, a municipal corporation may levy a special assessment for an air quality facility pursuant to an agreement entered into under section 3706.051 of the Revised Code, provided that the owner of the property to be assessed files a written statement with the legislative authority of the municipal corporation requesting that the assessment be levied. Except as otherwise provided in Chapter 1710. of the Revised Code, special assessments may be levied by any of the following methods:

(A) By a percentage of the tax value of the property assessed;

(B) In proportion to the benefits that may result from the improvement;

(C) By the front foot of the property bounding and abutting upon the improvement.

Last updated September 22, 2023 at 4:13 PM

For the purpose of controlling the blight and disease of shade trees within public rights-of-way, and for planting, maintaining, trimming, and removing shade trees in and along the streets of a municipality, the legislative authority of such municipal corporation may establish one or more districts in the municipality designating the boundaries thereof, and may each year thereafter, by ordinance, designate the district in which such control, planting, care, and maintenance shall be effected, setting forth an estimate of the cost and providing for the levy of a special assessment upon all the real property in the district, in the amount and in the manner provided in section 727.01 of the Revised Code, for planting, maintaining, trimming, and removing shade trees. The ordinance shall be adopted as other ordinances and a succinct summary of the ordinance shall be published in the manner provided in section 731.21 of the Revised Code. Bonds and anticipatory notes may be issued in anticipation of the collection of such special assessments, under section 133.17 of the Revised Code.

For the purpose of constructing, maintaining, repairing, cleaning, and enclosing ditches, the legislative authority of such municipal corporation may establish one or more districts in the municipality designating the boundaries thereof, and may each year thereafter, by ordinance, designate the district in which such constructing, maintaining, repairing, cleaning, and enclosing of ditches shall be effected, setting forth an estimate of the cost and providing for the levying of a special assessment upon all the real property in the district, in the amount and in the manner provided in section 727.01 of the Revised Code, for constructing, maintaining, repairing, cleaning, and enclosing ditches. The ordinance shall be adopted as other ordinances and a succinct summary of the ordinance shall be published in the manner provided in section 731.21 of the Revised Code. Bonds and anticipatory notes may be issued in anticipation of the collection of such special assessments, under section 133.17 of the Revised Code.

A municipal corporation may contract with any corporation, company, partnership, association, or person maintaining overhead cables, wires, and appurtenant equipment on a street of the municipal corporation for the relocation of such overhead cables, wires, and appurtenant equipment underground within the limits of the street. Such contract shall provide for the payment of the contract price by the municipal corporation in not less than five nor more than ten annual installments. Any part of the cost of relocating such overhead wires, cables, and appurtenant equipment to be paid by the municipal corporation pursuant to such contract, or the cost incurred by the municipal corporation in the relocation of its own overhead wires, cables, and appurtenant equipment within street limits, may be assessed upon the abutting, adjacent and contiguous or other specially benefited lots or lands in the municipal corporation in the manner provided in sections 727.01 to 727.49, inclusive, of the Revised Code. A proceeding for the relocation of overhead wires, cables, and appurtenant equipment underground may be combined with a proceeding for the furnishing of new street lighting facilities or other street improvement.

A municipal corporation may, by ordinance, adopt and enforce regulations requiring owners of property abutting upon a street in which overhead wires, cables, and appurtenant equipment supplying a utility service have been relocated underground and service connections have been provided to the property line, to install underground wires, cables, or conduits from the property line to the buildings or other structures on such property to which such utility service is supplied.

In making a special assessment by percentage of the tax value or by the foot front on lots or lands not subdivided into lots, when such lots or lands are not assessed for taxation, the legislative authority of a municipal corporation shall fix, for the purpose of such assessment, the value of such lots as they stand and of such lands at what the legislative authority considers a fair average depth for lots in the neighborhood, so that it will be a fair average of the assessed value of other lots in the neighborhood. In making assessments either way on land not subdivided into lots but which is assessed for taxation, the legislative authority shall fix the value and depth in the same manner, but such rule shall not apply in making aa special assessment according to benefits.

The legislative authority of a municipal corporation shall limit all special assessments levied under sections 727.01 to 727.49, inclusive, of the Revised Code, to the special benefits conferred upon the property assessed. In no case shall there be levied, under sections 727.01 to 727.49, inclusive, of the Revised Code, upon a lot or parcel of land in the municipal corporation, any assessment for any purpose which, together with all assessments made for all other purposes within a period of five years preceding the passage of the assessing ordinance under section 727.25 of the Revised Code, would be in excess of thirty-three and one-third per cent of the actual value of such lot or parcel including improvements thereon, as enhanced by the improvement for which the assessment is levied, such value to be determined as of the date of the assessing ordinance passed under section 727.25 of the Revised Code, except as provided by section 727.06 of the Revised Code. Assessments levied for the construction of main sewers shall not exceed the sum that, in the opinion of the legislative authority, would be required to construct an ordinary street sewer or drain of sufficient capacity to drain or sewer the lots or lands to be assessed for such improvement, nor shall any lots or lands be assessed that are provided with adequate drainage.

(A) As used in this section:

(1) "Nonprofit arts institution" has the same meaning as in division (G) of section 5709.121 of the Revised Code.

(2) "Qualifying real property" means any real property that is located in a county having a population greater than five hundred thousand but less than five hundred forty thousand and that is either (i) owned and operated by a nonprofit arts institution or (ii) owned and operated by a limited liability company whose sole member is a nonprofit arts institution.

(B) For tax years 2020 to 2024, qualifying real property is exempt from special assessments levied under Chapter 727. or 729. of the Revised Code, provided no delinquent special assessments and related interest and penalties are levied or assessed against any property owned by the owner and operator of the qualifying real property for that tax year.

Last updated July 14, 2021 at 5:24 PM

When a special assessment is levied under sections 727.01 to 727.49, inclusive, of the Revised Code, by the legislative authority of a municipal corporation for the reimproving of any street within the municipal corporation by paving, for the original paving of which a special assessment has previously been levied by ordinance of the municipal corporation within the last twenty years, such assessments for repaving shall not exceed fifty per cent of the cost of such repaving.

The municipal corporation shall pay such part of the total cost of improvements for which special assessments are levied under sections 727.01 to 727.49, inclusive, of the Revised Code, as the legislative authority thereof deems just, which part shall not be less than one-fiftieth of the total cost of the improvement, and in addition thereto, the municipal corporation shall pay the cost of intersections, except as provided by section 727.06 of the Revised Code.

When a petition subscribed by the owners of sixty per cent of the front footage of property abutting upon a street, alley, public road, place, boulevard, parkway, park entrance, easement, or other public improvement in a municipal corporation, or the owners of seventy-five per cent of the area to be assessed for such improvement, requesting such improvement, is regularly presented to the legislative authority of the municipal corporation, the total cost of such improvement, including the cost of intersections, regardless of the limitations of sections 727.03 and 727.04 of the Revised Code, and without reference to the value of the lands of those who subscribe to such petition, may be assessed and collected in equal annual installments, proportioned to the whole assessment, in a manner which may be fixed by the legislative authority. When the lot or land of one who did not subscribe to the petition is assessed, such assessment shall not exceed the thirty-three and one-third per cent limitation prescribed by section 727.03 of the Revised Code.

When a street, alley, public highway, sidewalk, wharf, or landing within a municipal corporation is graded, or pavements are constructed in conformity to grades established by the authorities of the municipal corporation, and the expense of such work is assessed on the lots or lands benefited thereby, such lots or lands shall not be subject to any special assessment occasioned by any subsequent change of grade in such pavement, sidewalk, street, alley, public highway, wharf, or landing unless a petition for the change is subscribed by a majority of such owners. The expense of improvements occasioned by such change of grade, not so petitioned for, shall be included as part of the cost of the improvement to be paid by the municipal corporation.

The cost of any public improvement to be paid for directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by funds derived from special assessments may include but not be limited to:

(A) The purchase price of real estate or any interest therein when acquired by purchase, or not more than fifty per cent of the cost of acquiring such real estate or any interest therein when acquired by appropriation;

(B) The cost of preliminary and other surveys;

(C) The cost of preparing plans, specifications, profiles, and estimates except, to the extent that costs of plans, specifications, and estimates of cost have been paid for by the levy of assessments under section 729.11 of the Revised Code, such costs shall not be included in determining the cost of the improvement under this section;

(D) The cost of printing, serving, and publishing notices and summaries of resolutions and ordinances;

(E) The cost of all special proceedings;

(F) The cost of labor and material, whether furnished by contract or otherwise;

(G) Interest on securities issued in anticipation of the levy and collection of the special assessments or, if securities in anticipation of the levy of the special assessments are not issued, interest, at a rate to be determined by the legislative authority in the resolution of necessity adopted pursuant to section 727.12 of the Revised Code, on moneys advanced by the municipal corporation for the cost of the public improvement in anticipation of the levy of the special assessments;

(H) The total amount of damages, resulting from the improvement, assessed in favor of any owner of lands affected by the improvement, and interest thereon;

(I) The cost incurred in connection with the preparation, levy, and collection of the special assessments, including legal expenses incurred by reason of the improvement;

(J) Incidental costs directly connected with the improvement.

When it is determined by the legislative authority of a municipal corporation and is recited in the resolution of necessity adopted under section 727.12 of the Revised Code, that the streets, alleys, easements, or other public places, or parts thereof, to be improved by construction of sidewalks, curbs, gutters, sewers, drains, or water lines or by paving, lighting, relocating overhead wires, cables, and appurtenant equipment underground, or treating the surface with dust-laying or preservative substances, sprinkling, sweeping, or cleaning are so situated in relation to each other that in order to complete the improvement thereof in the most practical and economical manner they should be improved at the same time, with the same kind of materials, and in the same manner, then such streets, alleys, easements, or other public places, or parts thereof, may be treated as a single improvement, and one resolution, ordinance, or contract providing for such improvement may include one or more of such streets, alleys, easements, or other public places, or parts thereof, at the discretion of the legislative authority, whose determination in respect thereto shall be final.

In all proceedings in which lots or lands are to be charged with special assessments to pay any part of the cost of a public improvement, such lots and lands bounding and abutting upon the improvement may be described as all the lots and lands bounding and abutting upon such improvement between and including the termini of the improvement and those lots and lands which do not so bound and abut may be described by their appropriate lot numbers or by metes and bounds.

Special assessments for any improvement under this chapter shall be payable in annual installments pursuant to one or more payment schedules authorized by the legislative authority in the resolution of necessity adopted pursuant to section 727.12 of the Revised Code. Except as otherwise provided in section 727.251 of the Revised Code, the number of annual installments of any assessment for street lighting purposes or to pay the costs of relocating overhead wires, cables, and appurtenant equipment underground shall not exceed thirty and the number of annual installments of all other assessments shall not exceed the maximum maturity for which securities could be issued in anticipation thereof under Chapter 133. of the Revised Code. If no period of maximum maturity is so specified, then the period for which such other assessments shall be levied, except as otherwise provided under section 727.251 of the Revised Code, shall not be less than one year, but may not exceed the estimated life of the usefullness of the improvement as certified by the fiscal officer of the municipal corporation.

When it is deemed necessary by a municipal corporation to make a public improvement to be paid for in whole or in part by special assessments levied under this chapter, plans, specifications, profiles of the proposed improvement showing the proposed grade of the street and improvement after completion with reference to the property abutting thereon, and an estimate of the cost of the improvement shall be prepared and filed in the office of the clerk of the legislative authority of the municipal corporation and shall be open to the inspection of all persons interested. After such plans, specifications, profiles, and estimate of cost of the improvement have been filed, as provided in this section, the legislative authority of the municipal corporation may declare the necessity for such improvement by the passage of a resolution.

Such resolution shall:

(A) State the nature and location of the improvement and the lots or parcels of land to be assessed for the improvement;

(B) Approve the plans, specifications, profiles, and estimate of cost of the proposed improvement on file as provided by this section;

(C) State what part of the cost of the improvement is to be paid for by the municipal corporation and what part is to be paid for by special assessments;

(D) State whether the method of levying the special assessments shall be:

(1) By a percentage of the tax value of the property assessed;

(2) In proportion to the benefits which may result from the improvement;

(3) By the foot front of the property bounding and abutting upon the improvement.

(E) State the mode of payment, the payment schedule or schedules according to which the special assessments to be levied will be payable, and, if more than one payment schedule is authorized, criteria for use of the different schedules. In no case shall the use of different payment schedules affect the amount of special assessment levied on any lot or parcel of land assessed.

(F) State whether the municipal corporation intends to issue securities in anticipation of the levy of the special assessments;

(G) State whether the municipal corporation intends to issue securities in anticipation of the collection of the special assessments;

(H) Provide for the preparation of an estimated assessment in accordance with the method of assessment set forth in the resolution, showing the amount of the assessment against each lot or parcel of land to be assessed. Such estimated assessment shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the legislative authority of the municipal corporation.

Such resolution may also provide for the assessment to be levied and collected before the improvement for which the assessment is levied is commenced.

The passage of such resolution shall require the concurrence of three-fourths of the members elected to the legislative authority unless petitioned for by the owners of a majority of the front footage or the area to be assessed, in which event the passage of such resolution shall require the concurrence of a majority of such members. Such resolution shall be published as other resolutions are published.