If Issue 6 Isn’t Renewed, Do Our Taxes Go Down?

A neighbor asked me a fair question about the school levy on this year’s ballot: if Issue 6 is not renewed, do our property taxes go down? The answer is yes — with a few things you should know before you vote.

What Issue 6 is

Issue 6 renews an existing Garfield Heights City Schools levy that raises $4.1 million a year for the district’s current operating expenses. Voters first approved it on March 6, 2012 and renewed it on November 8, 2016, for tax years 2017 through 2026. This renewal would run five more years. The County Fiscal Officer estimates it at 7.74 mills — $271 a year for every $100,000 of home value, before state credits.

A renewal keeps a charge you already pay. It does not add a new one.

If it is never renewed

The school board’s own resolution says the current levy “expires with the levy on the 2026 tax list for collection in calendar year 2027.” If it is never renewed, it comes off tax bills starting in 2028.

Because it raises a fixed dollar amount, the whole charge comes off. Ohio’s tax-reduction factors do not apply to fixed-sum levies, and the state’s 20-mill floor for school districts would not put it back.

What a No vote does — and does not — do

A No vote on November 3 does not cut your taxes by itself. The school board can put the renewal back on the ballot in May or November 2027, and if it passes then, the charge continues without a gap.

How much would a homeowner actually save? The county’s estimate is $271 per $100,000 before state credits. Owner-occupied homes get state credits on this levy, so by my arithmetic the real savings for a homeowner would be closer to $233 per $100,000 at the county’s estimate. (This year’s bills charge the levy at 8.5 mills, about $297.50 per $100,000 before credits; the $271 is the county’s estimate for the new term.)

Other things will move your 2028 bill too — the county’s 2027 value update, the county’s own levies on this ballot (Issues 10 and 11), and new state tax laws. So this levy’s charge comes off, but your total bill may not fall by exactly that amount.

Why this year’s bills came down

If your bill dropped this year, most of that came from two school bond levies (from 2000 and 2002) no longer being on the bill and the city’s police-and-fire charter millage coming down on the county rate list. Last November’s Issue 48 was renewed at a lower millage for the same $5.35 million a year, and the $4.1 million levy was recalculated at a lower rate. None of that gives back what homeowners paid in 2025.

Sources

• Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Issues List, November 3, 2026 (Issue 6)
• Garfield Heights City School District Board of Education, Resolutions 2026-39 (June 15, 2026) and 2026-48 (July 20, 2026)
• Ohio Revised Code 5705.194 (fixed-sum levies) and 319.301 (tax-reduction factors)
• Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer, DTE 515 Composite Reduction Factor Report, tax year 2025
• Ohio Legislative Service Commission, Final Analysis of H.B. 186 (state credits)
• Board of Elections official results, March 6, 2012 and November 8, 2016

From The Ward 2A Report, Issue 2026-003. Savings figures marked “my arithmetic” are my own calculations from the public records above. If a figure here is wrong, tell me and I will correct it.