(A) Upon the request by resolution approved by the board of trustees of a community college district, and upon certification to the board of elections not less than ninety days prior to the election, the boards of elections of the county or counties comprising such district shall place upon the ballot in their respective counties the question of levying a tax on all the taxable property in the community college district outside the ten-mill limitation, for a specified period of years or for a continuing period of time, to provide funds for any one or more of the following purposes: the acquisition of sites, the erection, furnishing, and equipment of buildings, the acquisition, construction, or improvement of any property which the board of trustees of a community college district is authorized to acquire, construct, or improve and which has an estimated life of usefulness of five years or more as certified by the fiscal officer, and the payment of operating costs. Not more than two special elections shall be held in any one calendar year. Levies for a continuing period of time adopted under this section may be reduced in accordance with section 5705.261 of the Revised Code.

If such proposal is to be or include the renewal of an existing levy at the expiration thereof, the ballot for such election shall state whether it is a renewal of a tax; a renewal of a stated number of mills and an increase of a stated number of mills, or a renewal of a part of an existing levy with a reduction of a stated number of mills; the year of the tax duplicate on which such renewal will first be made; and if earlier, the year of the tax duplicate on which such additional levy will first be made, which may include the tax duplicate for the current year unless the election is to be held after the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the current tax year. The ballot shall also state the period of years for such levy or that it is for a continuing period of time. If a levy for a continuing period of time provides for but is not limited to current expenses, the resolution of the board of trustees providing for the election on such levy shall apportion the annual rate of the levy between current expenses and the other purpose or purposes. Such apportionment need not be the same for each year of the levy, but the respective portions of the rate actually levied each year for current expenses and the other purpose or purposes shall be limited by such apportionment. The portion of the rate apportioned to the other purpose or purposes shall be reduced as provided in division (B) of this section.

If a majority of the electors in such district voting on such question approve thereof, the county auditor or auditors of the county or counties comprising such district shall annually, for the applicable years, place such levy on the tax duplicate in such district, in an amount determined by the board of trustees, but not to exceed the amount set forth in the proposition approved by the electors.

The boards of trustees of a community college district shall establish a special fund for all revenue derived from any tax levied pursuant to this section.

The boards of elections of the county or counties comprising the district shall cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in each such county an advertisement of the proposed tax levy question once a week for two consecutive weeks, or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code, prior to the election at which the question is to appear on the ballot. If a board of elections operates and maintains a web site, that board also shall post the advertisement on its web site for thirty days prior to that election.

After the approval of such levy by vote, the board of trustees of a community college district may anticipate a fraction of the proceeds of such levy and from time to time issue anticipation notes having such maturity or maturities that the aggregate principal amount of all such notes maturing in any calendar year shall not exceed seventy-five per cent of the anticipated proceeds from such levy for such year, and that no note shall mature later than the thirty-first day of December of the tenth calendar year following the calendar year in which such note is issued. Each issue of notes shall be sold as provided in Chapter 133. of the Revised Code.

The amount of bonds or anticipatory notes authorized pursuant to Chapter 3354. of the Revised Code, may include sums to repay moneys previously borrowed, advanced, or granted and expended for the purposes of such bond or anticipatory note issues, whether such moneys were advanced from the available funds of the community college district or by other persons, and the community college district may restore and repay to such funds or persons from the proceeds of such issues the moneys so borrowed, advanced or granted.

All operating costs of such community college may be paid out of any gift or grant from the state, pursuant to division (K) of section 3354.09 of the Revised Code; out of student fees and tuition collected pursuant to division (G) of section 3354.09 of the Revised Code; or out of unencumbered funds from any other source of the community college income not prohibited by law.

(B) Prior to the application of section 319.301 of the Revised Code, the rate of a levy that is limited to, or to the extent that it is apportioned to, purposes other than current expenses shall be reduced in the same proportion in which the district's total valuation increases during the life of the levy because of additions to such valuation that have resulted from improvements added to the tax list and duplicate.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.28, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2011.

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

Effective Date: 10-30-1989; 05-02-2006