AGO 1993-075.

Case DateDecember 30, 1993
CourtOhio
Ohio Attorney General Opinions 1993. AGO 1993-075. December 30, 1993OPINION NO. 1993-075The Honorable Gregory A. WhiteLorain County Prosecuting Attorney 226 Middle Avenue, 4th Floor Elyria, Ohio 44035 Dear Prosecutor White: You have requested an opinion concerning the disposition of revenue derived from a county sales tax. According to information provided in connection with your request, the county wishes to levy a sales tax pursuant to R.C. 5739.026 and deposit the revenue derived from the sales tax into either a special fund for the county's transit authority or a trust fund. Revenue in the special fund or trust fund would be used "to establish a fixed amount of local matching funds to be used each year to secure the necessary federal operating monies to operate" the county's transit authority. As agreed upon in a conversation with a member of your office, your specific questions have been rephrased as follows:
1. May the revenue derived from a county sales tax levied pursuant to R.C. 5739.026 be deposited into a special fund for the transit authority or into a trust fund?
2. If revenue derived from a county sales tax levied pursuant to R.C. 5739.026 is deposited into a special fund for the transit authority or into a trust fund, is there a limit on the amount of revenue that may be carried forward from year to year in the fund? Similarly, must the revenue in the special fund or trust fund be allocated within a certain specified time?
Sales Tax Levied Pursuant to R.C. 5739.026
R.C. 5739.026 authorizes a board of county commissioners to levy a sales tax to provide additional revenue for a transit authority. This section provides, in part, as follows:
(A) A board of county commissioners may levy a tax of one-fourth or one-half of one per cent on every retail sale in the county, except sales of watercraft and outboard motors required to be titled pursuant to Chapter 1548. of the Revised Code and sales of motor vehicles, and may increase an existing rate of one-fourth of one per cent to one-half of one per cent, to pay the expenses of administering the tax and, except as provided in division (A)(6) of this section, for any one or more of the following purposes:
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(2) To provide additional revenues for a transit authority operating in the county[.]
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If the tax is for more than one of the purposes set forth in division (A) of this section or is exclusively for one of the purposes set forth in division (A)(1), (2), (4), (5), (6), or (7) of this section, the resolution shall not go into effect unless it is approved by a majority of the electors voting on the question of the tax.
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(D)(1) The resolution levying the tax or increasing the rate of tax shall state the rate of the tax or the rate of the increase; the purpose or purposes for which it is to be levied; the number of years for which it is to be levied or that it is for a continuing period of time; the allocation method required by division (C) of this section; and if required to be submitted to the electors of the county under division (A) of this section, the date of the election at which the proposal shall be submitted to the electors of the county, which shall be not less than seventy-five days after the certification of a copy of the resolution to the board of elections.
Revenue derived from a county sales tax levied pursuant to R.C. 5739.026 is deposited into a separate fund, which is allocated and distributed in...

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