State & Local Innovation Lab

Fiscal Dependency and Institutional Sustainability

[{"id":"b-1782324744654-dxdiu","type":"paragraph","html":"<p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">This report examines how reliance on external revenue sources, intergovernmental transfers, and concentrated funding streams affects fiscal stability, institutional independence, and long-term public-sector resilience.</span></p>"}]

Circuit Breaker Property Tax Relief Framework

[{"id":"b-1781465740073-toho6","type":"paragraph","html":"<p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">This policy framework evaluates an income-based property tax circuit breaker for Ohio. It examines eligibility, benefit design, renter inclusion, funding, administration, and safeguards to provide targeted relief while protecting local government revenue and essential public services.</span></p>"}]

Future Appeals Accessibility Act

[{"id":"b-1780813827509-mnu0a","type":"paragraph","html":"<p>The&nbsp;<strong>Future Appeals Accessibility Act</strong>&nbsp;is a property valuation fairness and appeals-access proposal. It does not reduce tax rates, cap levies, or function as a property tax cut.</p><p>The Act requires property owners to receive at least&nbsp;<strong>120 days’ advance notice</strong>&nbsp;before scheduled property valuation activity. After receiving notice, the property owner has&nbsp;<strong>60 days</strong>&nbsp;to request a full onsite inspection. If the owner does not respond within that period, the State or responsible public authority may proceed with valuation as planned and is not required to send a second notice, reminder, or follow-up warning.</p><p>The proposal is intended to make the valuation process easier for homeowners to understand and use. Many property owners are not aware when valuation activity is coming, what options they have, who to contact, or how to prepare if they believe a valuation is inaccurate. The advance notice requirement gives homeowners time to ask questions, request inspection, gather documents, and determine whether appraisal evidence may be needed.</p><p>After the 60-day inspection-election period expires, the homeowner’s recourse is the established property valuation complaint and appeal process. If the property owner substantially prevails in an appeal, the State shall reimburse reasonable and documented appeal-related costs, including appraisal costs.</p><p>The goal is balanced fairness: property owners receive meaningful notice, inspection access, appeal guidance, and reimbursement when they prove a valuation was wrong, while public authorities retain clear deadlines, administrative certainty, and the ability to proceed when a property owner does not respond.</p>"}]

Protecting Senior and Disabled Homeowners in Ohio

[{"id":"b-1779895125860-huook","type":"paragraph","html":"<p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">This policy framework proposes targeted property tax protections for senior and disabled homeowners in Ohio through expanded homestead relief, income-based tax stability credits, assessment shock protections, and safeguards against tax-driven displacement. It aims to preserve housing security for fixed-income homeowners while maintaining fiscal stability for schools and local governments.</span></p>"}]

Modernizing Property Tax Administration in Ohio

[{"id":"b-1779737609969-aztl0","type":"paragraph","html":"<p>This framework outlines the modernization of Ohio's property tax administration systems to enhance transparency, accessibility, and procedural fairness while maintaining operational sustainability for local governments and assessment authorities.</p>"}]

Structural Pressures in Ohio Property Taxation

[{"id":"b-1778704872397-ry6wk","type":"paragraph","html":"<p><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Ohio’s property tax system is facing increasing pressure from rising reassessments, housing affordability concerns, local government fiscal dependency, and growing public dissatisfaction with institutional processes surrounding valuation and taxation. This report examines the structural tensions shaping Ohio’s property tax debate and evaluates how evolving economic realities are increasingly colliding with legacy governance systems designed under earlier conditions.</span></p>"}]

Stabilizing Debt in Crisis: A Cleveland Framework for Consumer Financial Hardship Response

[{"id":"b-1775776132732-or9cl","type":"paragraph","html":"<p>Cleveland residents are increasingly relying on credit to manage everyday financial shocks—but when hardship hits, the system often makes things worse. Interest continues to accrue, fees pile up, and relief remains difficult to access. What should be temporary setbacks are routinely allowed to become long-term debt, driving financial instability across neighborhoods.</p><p><br></p><p>Cleveland already has the tools to respond—but they are fragmented. Consumer protection, financial empowerment, housing assistance, and utility support operate in parallel rather than as a coordinated system. As a result, residents often encounter help too late, after debt has escalated and financial damage has already occurred.</p><p><br></p><p>This brief proposes a Cleveland Consumer Financial Hardship Response Framework, a municipal strategy that organizes existing city capacity into a unified system. It creates a single point of entry for residents in financial distress, strengthens coordination across city departments, expands access to financial counseling and safe banking, and integrates hardship response into housing and utility assistance pathways. It also introduces data tracking and accountability measures to improve outcomes over time.</p><p><br></p><p>Cleveland cannot control all aspects of the credit system—but it can control how residents experience financial distress within the city. By acting now, Cleveland can prevent avoidable debt cycles, stabilize households earlier, and strengthen financial resilience across communities.</p>"}]

Stabilizing Debt in Crisis: An Ohio Framework for Consumer Credit Hardship Protections

Across Ohio, families rely on credit to manage everyday financial shocks—but when hardship hits, the system often makes things worse. Interest continues, fees pile up, and inconsistent lender practices leave borrowers without reliable access to relief. Temporary setbacks are routinely allowed to become long-term debt. This brief proposes the Ohio Consumer Credit Hardship Stabilization Act, a state-level framework requiring all lenders operating in Ohio to provide standardized, enforceable hardship protections. The policy establishes clear eligibility triggers, mandates access to relief options such as interest reduction and fee suspension, and prohibits cost escalation during verified hardship. It also strengthens enforcement through the Ohio Attorney General and provides borrowers with a private right of action. This is a practical, immediately actionable reform that uses existing state authority to ensure that credit markets operate with basic fairness. By stabilizing borrowers at the point of financial distress, Ohio can prevent avoidable debt cycles, improve repayment outcomes, and strengthen household financial resilience across the state.

Continuity of Stabilizing Treatment Act (Ohio)

The Continuity of Stabilizing Treatment Act establishes a continuity-first standard for clinically necessary therapy within Ohio-regulated health plans. The proposal preserves insurer utilization review authority while preventing treatment interruption and protecting patients from retroactive financial liability arising from administrative disputes.