COLUMBUS – State Representatives Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) and Johnathan Newman (R- Troy) recently introduced House Bill 113, which updates the law when a community is considering annexation, providing the opportunity for more input from community leaders in these instances.
House Bill 113 grants county commissioners the authority to veto any annexation they determine to not be in the best interest of the county or community, including expedited annexations. Under current law, expedited annexations may not be vetoed by the county commissioners.
“It’s important that county elected officials like commissioners have the ability to make decisions that are in the best interest of the county.” said Representative Bird.
“An unbalanced approach to annexation can bring lasting, negative consequences to a community. House Bill 113 seeks to safeguard against those,” said Representative Newman. “We especially must protect our children’s schools from taking the brunt of those consequences which will continue to happen without better balance in the law.”
This proposed legislation also makes the following updates:
- Allows a city, local, or exempted village school district, in certain circumstances, to prevent land from becoming a Community Reinvestment Area because the change could create hardship on the school district;
- Requires a municipality administrator or assistant administrator to file financial disclosure statements with the Ohio Ethics Commission;
This bill awaits its committee assignment.