As used in sections 135.804 to 135.807 of the Revised Code:

(A) "Taxes" has the same meaning as in section 323.01 of the Revised Code.

(B) "Eligible borrower" means a person meeting all of the following:

(1) The person is the owner of a homestead that is not charged with more than two years' worth of certified delinquent taxes.

(2) The person had total income in the year prior to submitting an application for a reduced rate loan under a property tax payment linked deposit program of the lesser of fifty thousand dollars or the total income limit established pursuant to section 135.805 of the Revised Code by the board of county commissioners as an eligibility requirement for participation in a property tax payment linked deposit program.

(3) The person meets all other eligibility requirements established pursuant to section 135.805 of the Revised Code by the board of county commissioners for participation in a property tax payment linked deposit program.

(C) "Eligible lending institution" means a financial institution that meets all of the following:

(1) The financial institution is eligible to make loans to individuals that are secured by mortgages, including mortgages commonly known as reverse mortgages.

(2) The financial institution has an office located within the territorial limits of the county.

(3) The financial institution is an eligible public depository described in section 135.32 of the Revised Code into which the county's investing authority may deposit the public moneys of the county.

(4) The financial institution has entered into an agreement described in division (B)(4) of section 135.805 of the Revised Code with the investing authority of the county to participate in the property tax payment linked deposit program.

(D)

(1) "Homestead" means either of the following:

(a) A dwelling, including a unit in a multiple-unit dwelling and a manufactured home or mobile home taxed as real property pursuant to division (B) of section 4503.06 of the Revised Code, owned and occupied as a home by an individual whose domicile is in this state and who has not acquired ownership from a person, other than the individual's spouse, related by consanguinity or affinity for the purpose of qualifying for a property tax payment linked deposit program.

(b) A unit in a housing cooperative that is occupied as a home, but not owned, by an individual whose domicile is in this state.

(2) The homestead shall include so much of the land surrounding it, not exceeding one acre, as is reasonably necessary for the use of the dwelling or unit as a home. An owner includes a holder of one of the several estates in fee, a vendee in possession under a purchase agreement or a land contract, a mortgagor, a life tenant, one or more tenants with a right of survivorship, tenants in common, and a settlor of a revocable or irrevocable inter vivos trust holding the title to a homestead occupied by the settlor as of right under the trust.

(E) "Housing cooperative" means a housing complex of at least two units that is owned and operated by a nonprofit corporation that issues a share of the corporation's stock to an individual, entitling the individual to live in a unit of the complex, and collects a monthly maintenance fee from the individual to maintain, operate, and pay the taxes of the complex.

(F) "Investing authority" and "public moneys" have the same meanings as in section 135.31 of the Revised Code.

(G) "Lien certificate" means the certificate described in section 135.807 of the Revised Code.

(H) "Old age and survivors benefits received pursuant to the 'Social Security Act'" or "tier I railroad retirement benefits received pursuant to the 'Railroad Retirement Act'" means:

(1) Old age benefits payable under the social security or railroad retirement laws in effect on the last day of the calendar year prior to the year for which a reduced rate loan under a property tax payment linked deposit program is applied for, or, if no such benefits are payable that year, old age benefits payable the first succeeding year in which old age benefits under the social security or railroad retirement laws are payable, except in those cases where a change in social security or railroad retirement benefits results in a reduction in income.

(2) The lesser of:

(a) Survivors benefits payable under the social security or railroad retirement laws in effect on the last day of the calendar year prior to the year for which a reduced rate loan under a property tax payment linked deposit program is applied for, or, if no such benefits are payable that year, survivors benefits payable the first succeeding year in which survivors benefits are payable; or

(b) Old age benefits of the deceased spouse, as determined under division (H)(1) of this section, upon which the surviving spouse's survivors benefits are based under the social security or railroad retirement laws, except in those cases where a change in benefits would cause a reduction in income.

Survivors benefits are those described in division (H)(2)(b) of this section only if the deceased spouse received old age benefits in the year in which the deceased spouse died. If the deceased spouse did not receive old age benefits in the year in which the deceased spouse died, then survivors benefits are those described in division (H)(2)(a) of this section.

(I) "Permanently and totally disabled" means a person who, on the first day of January of the year that a reduced rate loan under a property tax payment linked deposit program is applied for, has some impairment in body or mind that makes the person unable to work at any substantially remunerative employment that the person reasonably is able to perform and that will, with reasonable probability, continue for an indefinite period of at least twelve months without any present indication of recovery therefrom or has been certified as permanently and totally disabled by a state or federal agency having the function of so classifying persons.

(J) "Property tax payment linked deposit program" means a countywide program authorized under section 135.805 of the Revised Code and established by the board of county commissioners of a county pursuant to that section.

(K) "Sixty-five years of age or older" means a person who has attained age sixty-four prior to the first day of January of the year of application for a reduced rate loan under a property tax payment linked deposit program.

(L) "Total income" means the adjusted gross income of the owner and the owner's spouse for the year preceding the year in which application for a reduced rate loan under a property tax payment linked deposit program is made, as determined under the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C.A. 1, as amended, adjusted as follows:

(1) Subtract the amount of disability benefits included in adjusted gross income, but not to exceed fifty-two hundred dollars;

(2) Add old age and survivors benefits received pursuant to the "Social Security Act" that are not included in adjusted gross income;

(3) Add retirement, pension, annuity, or other retirement payments or benefits not included in adjusted gross income;

(4) Add tier I and tier II railroad retirement benefits received pursuant to the "Railroad Retirement Act," 50 Stat. 307, 45 U.S.C.A. 228 ;

(5) Add interest on federal, state, and local government obligations;

(6) For a person who received a reduced rate loan under a property tax payment linked deposit program for a prior year on the basis of being permanently and totally disabled and whose current application for a reduced rate loan is made on the basis of age, subtract the following amount:

(a) If the person received disability benefits that were not included in adjusted gross income in the year preceding the first year in which the person applied for a reduced rate loan on the basis of age, subtract an amount equal to the disability benefits the person received in that preceding year, to the extent included in total income in the current year and not subtracted under division (L)(1) of this section in the current year;

(b) If the person received disability benefits that were included in adjusted gross income in the year preceding the first year in which the person applied for a reduced rate loan on the basis of age, subtract an amount equal to the amount of disability benefits that were subtracted pursuant to division (L)(1) of this section in that preceding year, to the extent included in total income in the current year and not subtracted under division (L)(1) of this section in the current year.

Disability benefits that are paid by the department of veterans affairs or a branch of the armed forces of the United States on account of an injury or disability shall not be included in total income.

Effective Date: 03-30-2007; 2008 HB130 04-07-2009 .