Changes to CAUV could come in the New Year

The Ohio General Assembly wrapped up its legislative session for the year last week, with much of the late-session energy given to property tax relief.  The legislature focused on strategies for reducing Ohio property taxes in five bills it just sent to the Governor (see our earlier post).  None of the bills addressed farmland taxation, however.  But a bill the legislature might consider when it returns in 2026 does propose changes to Ohio’s Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) Program for farmland property taxes.  H.B. 575, introduced by Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson) and Bob Peterson (R-Sabina) proposes a number of revisions to the CAUV program.

H.B. 575 doesn’t propose reductions to CAUV taxes, however.  Instead, the bill contains changes to how the CAUV program works.  The bill is consistent with plans in Ohio’s House for continuing to address property taxes.  Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee where H.B. 575 now sits, stated that the five recently passed bills represented most of the “big structural changes” to property taxation and that the legislature’s future focus will be on “fairness and efficiency.”  Sponsor Rep. Thomas agreed, stating that “the changes that need to happen now are about the process, helping taxpayers through the process and transparency.”  Process and transparency are two themes in H.B. 575’s revisions.  Here’s what the bill proposes to change about Ohio’s CAUV program.

Process changes:

• Removes the annual renewal requirement for CAUV.  A landowner would not have to submit a renewal each year after initial approval to enroll in the CAUV program.
• Requires county auditors to provide for electronic filing of CAUV enrollment applications.
• Allows a single operation with non-contiguous land in two or more counties to file one application for all parcels in the county where a majority of the land exists.
• Requires that property tax bills separately state the “CAUV savings” for the parcel.
• Mandates that a county auditor must provide notice of the soil types and CAUV values to landowners in reappraisal and update years.
• Allows the county auditor to value residential property and wasteland below the CAUV value.

Eligibility changes:

• Authorizes continued CAUV eligibility for tracts or portions lying idle or fallow in the previous year due to state or federal disaster or state of emergency declarations.
• Allows CAUV eligibility for contiguous land that is incidental to the primary use of the land for agricultural purposes, including areas for driveways, access roads, staging, barns, and farm markets.
• States that the CAUV minimum acreage requirement can include non-contiguous tracts that are part of a single operation within one or multiple counties.

While the proposed changes won’t affect the CAUV formula or reduce CAUV taxes, the revisions in H.B. 575 do solve many of the fairness and efficiency problems we see with Ohio’s CAUV program.  But it may take legislators a while to get to the CAUV bill.  It’s one of dozens of bills waiting for consideration by the House Ways & Means Committee. Even so, let’s hope 2026 brings changes to CAUV in the New Year.

Read H.B. 575 on the Ohio General Assembly’s website.