Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026
State ex rel. Board of Trustees of Union Township, Licking County, et al. v. Village of Hebron et al., Case No. 2025-0572
Writ of Mandamus
Must Village That Separated From Township Pay Compensation Based on Later Tax Levy?
State ex rel. Board of Trustees of Union Township, Licking County, et al. v. Village of Hebron et al., Case No. 2025-0572
Writ of Mandamus
ISSUES:
- When a municipal corporation excludes its territory from a township, does R.C. 709.19 require the municipality to compensate the township for lost tax revenue for 12 years based on the township’s total property tax in effect each year?
- For R.C. 709.19 to apply, was unincorporated territory annexed to the village of Hebron or excluded from Union Township in September 2022?
BACKGROUND:
For many years, the village of Hebron was located within Union Township in Licking County. The overlapping taxing jurisdictions benefited both governments because they could partner to fund and provide certain public services to their shared residents.
Over time, Hebron and Union Township found they only needed to combine services for fire and emergency medical needs through a joint fire district. However, when the fire district eventually became unfeasible financially, the governments ceased its operations in August 2022. The village of Hebron secured those services elsewhere.
Hebron officials decided there was no longer a reason to stay part of Union Township, and the village council voted to petition the Licking County Board of County Commissioners to separate from the township. The step would create a “paper township” called Hebron Township. The commissioners approved the request on Sept. 8, 2022. Union Township’s boundaries were adjusted to exclude Hebron.
Once excluded from township, the village was no longer subject to taxation by Union Township. However, Hebron and Union Township had an understanding that the village was required by R.C. 709.19 to compensate the township for lost tax revenue on a sliding scale for a 12-year period.
Union Township Invoices Hebron for Lost Tax Revenue
A taxing district can tax property up to 10 mills, or $10 in tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, without voter approval. This is described as “inside millage.” “Outside millage” refers to additional taxes, which must be approved by voters.
Hebron’s compensation to Union Township for the village’s 2022 taxes was based on the township’s inside millage plus its outside millage for a 3-mill tax levy in place for fire and emergency medical services. Union Township invoiced Hebron for the 2022 compensation payment, which was based on the lost tax revenue for the combined inside and outside millage. Hebron paid the invoiced amounts, which totaled $226,982.
The 3-mill levy was set to expire at the end of 2023, and Union Township placed a new five-year, 7-mill levy for fire and emergency medical services before voters in May 2023. Voters approved it. Hebron’s next invoice for the compensation payment, in the first half of 2024, was $37,508 for the lost inside millage and $238,962 for the lost outside millage, based on the 7-mill levy. The compensation payment for the second half of the year was the same. Hebron paid the inside millage bill, but not the $477,924 for the outside millage.
In 2025, Hebron again paid only the inside millage amounts. Union Township states that Hebron owes $511,383 for its 2025 compensation payments.
In April 2025, Union Township filed a request with the Supreme Court of Ohio for a writ of mandamus to order Hebron to pay its compensation payment balance of nearly $1 million. After the parties filed their briefs in the case, the Supreme Court ordered briefing on additional issues.
No Distinctions Made Between Inside and Outside Millage, Township Asserts
Union Township and its trustees – Roger Start, Jeffrey Sharps, and John Slater – maintain that R.C. 709.19 establishes a 12-year compensation schedule to offset the lost tax revenue that a township experiences when a municipal corporation removes itself from a township. The statute addresses taxes on commercial and industrial real, personal, and public utility property as well as on residential and retail real property. When the statute requires a municipality to compensate a township for lost revenue, the payments are calculated based on the total property tax in effect for each year, Union Township argues. The township contends that the law nowhere distinguishes between inside and outside millage for the calculations.
Hebron contests making compensation payments based on the new 7-mill fire levy, which was passed after the village separated from the township. But Union Township counters that it doesn’t matter when the taxes are enacted for the purpose of calculating the compensation. Instead, the calculations are based on the statutory percentage for each year of the 12-year period and applied to the taxes that “would have been due the township … if no annexation had occurred,” the township asserts, quoting R.C. 709.19.
Township Can’t Base Compensation Calculations on New Fire Levy, Village Counters
The village of Hebron, village Mayor Valerie Mockus, and the village’s chief fiscal officer Deborah Morgan argue the village has been paying the appropriate compensation to Union Township. Hebron contends that the township isn’t entitled to compensation that is based on the 7-mill levy, which was passed after the village separated from the township in 2022. Hebron notes that 971 township residents voted in the May 2023 election where the levy was approved. The village, which has 2,700 residents, maintains that it is not known how that election would have turned out had the village residents voted on the issue. The village argues R.C. 709.19 only required it to compensate the township for a percentage of the tax revenue that would have been generated from the 3-mill levy, up until that levy expired at the end of 2023.
The township’s interpretation of the statute is prohibited by Ohio law, the village contends, because the collection of taxes for outside millage is banned from territory outside of the taxing authority’s jurisdiction. The township’s view also would violate the constitutional rights of village residents because they would be burdened with taxes from a levy that they had no opportunity to approve or reject, the village asserts.
Township and Village Address Court Questions Regarding Unincorporated Property
For the compensation payments, R.C. 709.19 explains, “If unincorporated territory is annexed to a municipal corporation and excluded from a township under section 503.07 of the Revised Code, upon exclusion of that territory, the municipal corporation that annexed the territory shall make payments to the township from which the territory was annexed only as provided in this section ….”
Unincorporated land is a part of a township that isn’t located within the overlapping boundaries with the municipality. Incorporated land is the portion of a township that is also located in a municipality. The Court asked whether unincorporated territory was annexed to the village of Hebron or excluded from Union Township in September 2022, when the village separated from the township.
Union Township notes that no unincorporated territory was annexed by Hebron in September 2022 but contends that the exact timing isn’t relevant. State law only requires that annexation occurs before the municipality seeks to exclude its territory from the township, Union Township contends. By September 2022, the unincorporated land had already been annexed by Hebron, the township maintains. Upon that exclusion, the law states that the village must start making payments, Union Township argues. It contends that the 2019 Court decision in State ex rel. St. Clair Twp. Bd. of Trs. v. City of Hamilton supports this interpretation. The Court ruled that the law places no time limit on when the prior annexations must occur. The township also asserts that it and the village have agreed throughout the case that R.C. 709.19 applies and the issue is instead how to calculate the compensation payments.
The village responds that it neither annexed nor excluded any unincorporated territory from the township in September 2022. All land that was excluded, or removed, from the township was land that had long been incorporated as part of the village, it states. In considering this additional issue, it argues that R.C. 709.19 only requires it to pay compensation if the village annexes and excludes unincorporated land from the township, which it did not, the village maintains. The village now contends that R.C. 709.19 doesn’t require it to pay any compensation to the township following the village’s decision to separate from the township.
Municipal Group Submits Arguments
An amicus curiae brief supporting the position of the village of Hebron was submitted by the Ohio Municipal League.
– Kathleen Maloney
Docket entries, memoranda, briefs (including amicus briefs), and other information about this case may be accessed through the case docket.
Contacts
Representing the Board of Trustees of Union Township, Licking County, et al., from the Licking County Prosecutor’s Office: Darcy Cook, dcook@lickingcounty.gov
Representing the Village of Hebron et al.: Brodi James Conover, bconover@bricker.com
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