For the purpose of paying the costs of enforcing and administering the tax provided for in this section; for the various purposes stated in section 4504.02 of the Revised Code; and to supplement revenue already available for those purposes, any county that currently levies the tax authorized by section 4504.15 of the Revised Code may, by resolution adopted by its board of county commissioners, levy an annual license tax, that shall be in addition to the tax levied by that section and by sections 4503.02, 4503.07, and 4503.18 of the Revised Code, upon the operation of motor vehicles upon the public roads and highways. The tax shall be at the rate of five dollars per motor vehicle on all motor vehicles the district of registration of which, as defined in section 4503.10 of the Revised Code, is located in the county levying the tax but is not located within any municipal corporation levying the tax authorized by section 4504.171 of the Revised Code, and shall be in addition to the taxes at the rates specified in sections 4503.04 and 4503.16 of the Revised Code, subject to reductions in the manner provided in section 4503.11 of the Revised Code and the exemptions provided in sections 4503.16, 4503.17, 4503.171, 4503.41, and 4503.43 of the Revised Code.

Prior to the adoption of any resolution under this section, the board of county commissioners shall conduct two public hearings thereon, the second hearing to be not less than three nor more than ten days after the first. Notice of the date, time, and place of such hearings shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code, once a week for two consecutive weeks. The second publication shall be not less than ten nor more than thirty days prior to the first hearing.

No resolution under this section shall become effective sooner than thirty days following its adoption, and such resolution is subject to a referendum as provided in sections 305.31 to 305.41 of the Revised Code, unless the resolution is adopted as an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, in which case it shall go into immediate effect. The emergency measure must receive an affirmative vote of all of the members of the board of county commissioners, and shall state the reasons for the necessity. A resolution may direct the board of elections to submit the question of levying the tax to the electors of the county at the next primary or general election occurring not less than ninety days after the resolution is certified to the board; no such resolution shall go into effect unless approved by a majority of those voting upon it.

Nothing in this section or in section 4504.15 of the Revised Code shall be interpreted as preventing a county from levying the county motor vehicle license taxes authorized by such sections in a single resolution.

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: 07-01-1987; 03-29-2005