Any county, or any two or more counties, municipal corporations, or townships, or any combination of these, may create a regional transit authority by the adoption of a resolution or ordinance by the board of county commissioners of each county, the legislative authority of each municipal corporation, and the board of township trustees of each township which is to create or to join in the creation of the regional transit authority. The resolution or ordinance shall state:

(A) The necessity for the creation of a regional transit authority;

(B) The counties, municipal corporations, or townships which are to create or to join in the creation of the regional transit authority;

(C) The official name by which the regional transit authority shall be known;

(D) The place in which the principal office of the regional transit authority will be located or the manner in which it may be selected;

(E) The number, term, and compensation, or method for establishing compensation, of the members of the board of trustees of the regional transit authority. Compensation shall not exceed fifty dollars for each board and committee meeting attended by a member, except that if compensation is provided annually it shall not exceed six thousand dollars for the president of the board or four thousand eight hundred dollars for each other board member.

(F) The manner in which vacancies on the board of trustees of the regional transit authority shall be filled;

(G) The manner and to what extent the expenses of the regional transit authority shall be apportioned among the counties, municipal corporations, and townships creating it;

(H) The purposes, including the kinds of transit facilities, for which the regional transit authority is organized.

The regional transit authority provided for in the resolution or ordinance shall be deemed to be created upon the adoption of the resolution or ordinance by the board of county commissioners of each county, the legislative authority of each municipal corporation, and the board of township trustees of each township enumerated in the resolution or ordinance.

The resolution or ordinance creating a regional transit authority may be amended to include additional counties, municipal corporations, or townships or for any other purpose, by the adoption of the amendment by the board of county commissioners of each county, the legislative authority of each municipal corporation, and the board of township trustees of each township which has created or joined or proposes to join the regional transit authority.

After each county, municipal corporation, and township which has created or joined or proposes to join the regional transit authority has adopted its resolution or ordinance approving inclusion of additional counties, municipal corporations, or townships in the regional transit authority, a copy of each resolution or ordinance shall be filed with the clerk of the board of the county commissioners of each county, the clerk of the legislative authority of each municipal corporation, and the fiscal officer of the board of trustees of each township proposed to be included in the regional transit authority. The inclusion is effective when all such filing has been completed, unless the regional transit authority to which territory is to be added has authority to levy an ad valorem tax on property, or a sales tax, within its territorial boundaries, in which event the inclusion shall become effective on the sixtieth day after the last such filing is accomplished, unless, prior to the expiration of the sixty-day period, qualified electors residing in the area proposed to be added to the regional transit authority, equal in number to at least ten per cent of the qualified electors from the area who voted for governor at the last gubernatorial election, file a petition of referendum against the inclusion. Any petition of referendum filed under this section shall be filed at the office of the secretary of the board of trustees of the regional transit authority. The person presenting the petition shall be given a receipt containing on it the time of the day, the date, and the purpose of the petition. The secretary of the board of trustees of the regional transit authority shall cause the appropriate board or boards of elections to check the sufficiency of signatures on any petition of referendum filed under this section and, if found to be sufficient, shall present the petition to the board of trustees at a meeting of said board which occurs not later than thirty days following the filing of said petition. Upon presentation to the board of trustees of a petition of referendum against the proposed inclusion, the board of trustees shall promptly certify the proposal to the board or boards of elections for the purpose of having the proposal placed on the ballot at the next general or primary election which occurs not less than ninety days after the date of the meeting of said board, or at a special election, the date of which shall be specified in the certification, which date shall be not less than ninety days after the date of such meeting of the board. Signatures on a petition of referendum may be withdrawn up to and including the meeting of the board of trustees certifying the proposal to the appropriate board or boards of elections. If territory of more than one county, municipal corporation, or township is to be added to the regional transit authority, the electors of the territories of the counties, municipal corporations, or townships which are to be added shall vote as a district, and the majority affirmative vote shall be determined by the vote cast in the district as a whole. Upon certification of a proposal to the appropriate board or boards of elections pursuant to this section, the board or boards of election shall make the necessary arrangements for the submission of the question to the electors of the territory to be added to the regional transit authority qualified to vote on the question, and the election shall be held, canvassed, and certified in the manner provided for the submission of tax levies under section 5705.191 of the Revised Code, except that the question appearing on the ballot shall read:

"Shall the territory within the ......................... (Name or names of political subdivisions to be joined) be added to .................................. (Name) regional transit authority?" and shall a(n) .......... (here insert type of tax or taxes) at a rate of taxation not to exceed ..... (here insert maximum tax rate or rates) be levied for all transit purposes?"

If the question is approved by at least a majority of the electors voting on the question, the joinder is immediately effective, and the regional transit authority may extend the levy of the tax against all the taxable property within the territory which has been added. If the question is approved at a general election or at a special election occurring prior to the general election but after the fifteenth day of July, the regional transit authority may amend its budget and resolution adopted pursuant to section 5705.34 of the Revised Code, and the levy shall be placed on the current tax list and duplicate and collected as other taxes are collected from all taxable property within the territorial boundaries of the regional transit authority, including the territory within each political subdivision added as a result of the election.

The territorial boundaries of a regional transit authority shall be coextensive with the territorial boundaries of the counties, municipal corporations, and townships included within the regional transit authority, provided that the same area may be included in more than one regional transit authority so long as the regional transit authorities are not organized for purposes as provided for in the resolutions or ordinances creating the same, and any amendments to them, relating to the same kinds of transit facilities; and provided further, that if a regional transit authority includes only a portion of an entire county, a regional transit authority for the same purposes may be created in the remaining portion of the same county by resolution of the board of county commissioners acting alone or in conjunction with municipal corporations and townships as provided in this section.

No regional transit authority shall be organized after January 1, 1975, to include any area already included in a regional transit authority, except that any regional transit authority organized after June 29, 1974, and having territorial boundaries entirely within a single county shall, upon adoption by the board of county commissioners of the county of a resolution creating a regional transit authority including within its territorial jurisdiction the existing regional transit authority and for purposes including the purposes for which the existing regional transit authority was created, be dissolved and its territory included in such new regional transit authority. Any resolution creating such a new regional transit authority shall make adequate provision for satisfaction of the obligations of the dissolved regional transit authority.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.29, HB 48, §1, eff. 7/2/2010.

Effective Date: 09-13-1989; 12-20-2005