The standard central Ohio purchase contract prorates taxes at closing using the valuations and rates in the current certified tax duplicate, and it makes those prorations final unless the parties write in an exception. For a Bexley closing this winter, that duplicate may not yet carry the values from the 2026 triennial update. If later bills differ from what was prorated, the contract's default leaves that difference uncorrected at closing.
Franklin County's preliminary numbers put Bexley at the top of the county. The Auditor's tentative 2026 figures show residential values in the Bexley City School District up about 14%, tied with Grandview Heights for the largest gain. The countywide residential average was 10.1%. In this district, though, value changes do far less to the bill than voted millage and the timing of a closing.
The proration can run on numbers that are about to change
The Columbus REALTORS and Columbus Bar Association purchase contract, revised February 2025, prorates the closing year's taxes through the closing date on a 365-day basis. The language is precise:
The proration shall be based upon the most recent available tax rates, assessments and valuations as reflected in the current tax duplicate certified by the County Treasurer. Seller and Buyer acknowledge that actual bills received by Buyer after closing for real estate taxes and assessments may differ from the amounts prorated at closing. In any event, all prorations agreed to by the parties at closing shall be final.
The contract does leave a blank line for exceptions to that finality, and it reads "none if nothing inserted." In most years that blank barely matters. In a triennial update year, the "current tax duplicate" and the value the Auditor is about to certify can sit months apart. Here is the calendar the Auditor has published.
Milestone | Timing |
|---|---|
Tentative values released | June 9, 2026 |
Informal value reviews, in person and virtual | Ended September 5, 2026 |
Supporting documents for informal review | Closed September 12, 2026 |
Final values posted and notices mailed | Expected mid-December 2026 |
First bills reflecting 2026 values | Payable in 2027, because Ohio collects property tax in arrears |
Board of Revision complaints for tax year 2026 | Accepted through March 31, 2027 |
So a December or early-2027 closing falls in a window where the new value exists but hasn't reached a bill yet. Your title company can confirm which duplicate a specific closing will use. To size that gap, you need to know how much a 14% value increase actually changes a Bexley tax bill. The last reappraisal gives the clearest answer.
What happened the last time Bexley values jumped
The Franklin County Auditor publishes a rate history for tax district 020, City of Bexley. It separates the gross rate voters approved from the effective residential rate that owners actually pay.
Tax year | Gross rate, mills | Effective residential rate, mills |
|---|---|---|
2021 | 149.22 | 68.82 |
2022 | 149.22 | 68.76 |
2023 | 148.77 | 55.28 |
2024 | 154.27 | 60.88 |
2025 | 156.77 | 63.42 |
The 2023 row shows the reappraisal year. The gross rate barely moved. The effective residential rate fell from 68.76 mills to 55.28 mills, a drop of roughly 20% in a single year. As values went up, the rate applied to them came down.
The years since show the other half. Effective rates climbed back to 60.88 mills in 2024 and 63.42 mills in 2025, and the gross rate rose 5.5 mills and then 2.5 mills. Those are the same years the Bexley City School District's 2024 incremental operating levy added 5 mills and then 2.5 mills. The rate rose because voters approved new millage, while the reappraisal itself had pushed the rate down.
Why Bexley's rate bends instead of breaking
The mechanism is Ohio's tax-reduction factor, created under HB 920. When a reappraisal raises values, the factor lowers the effective rate on voted levies so those levies don't collect more money just because homes are worth more. The Ohio Legislative Service Commission's analysis sets out two limits. The factor doesn't apply to inside millage, and it stops reducing school operating levies once a district reaches the 20-mill floor.
That floor separates districts where a value jump raises school taxes from districts where it mostly doesn't. Bexley City Schools' Five-Year Financial Forecast dated August 5, 2026 states plainly that the district is not on the 20-mill floor. It also says the district does not expect HB 186, the new inflation-cap credit for floor districts, to affect its taxes. Because the district sits above the floor, the reduction factors keep working on its voted levies.
The school line carries most of the bill. In tax year 2025, the Bexley City School District accounted for 127.83 of the district's 156.77 gross mills. After reductions, it accounted for 45.43 of the 63.42 effective residential mills.
The parts of the bill that do move
If the reduction factor absorbs most of a reappraisal, the bill changes come from somewhere else. In Bexley, the research points to three sources.
- Inside millage, now with a cap. Inside millage isn't reduced when values rise, so it has always grown with reappraisals. HB 335, effective for tax year 2026, now directs county budget commissions in reappraisal and update years to adjust inside millage rates. The goal is to keep revenue growth generally within the prior three years' GDP-deflator inflation, excluding new improvements. The Bexley forecast notes that HB 479, effective September 23, 2026, corrected HB 335's inside millage language. It also calls any future adjustment "indeterminable at this time."
- The 2024 levy steps still underway. The incremental operating levy voters approved in November 2024 was scheduled at 5 mills in 2024, then added 2.5 mills each year in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028, reaching 15 mills for a continuing period. The district's August forecast refers to that levy as passed and includes no other new levies. Three of those steps fall within the window a new owner would be paying.
- Issue #5. The Franklin County Board of Elections certified issues list for the November 3, 2026 general election included Bexley City School District Issue #5. It proposed a continuing 0.5% school income tax for current expenses together with a $29.25 million school construction bond. The bond was listed at 2.05 mills, estimated at $72 for each $100,000 of auditor's market value, for 30 years starting in 2026. The district has a summary page for Issue #5, and official results come from the Board of Elections. If the issue is approved, the bond would be priced per $100,000 of market value, so a higher value means a larger bond charge, and the income tax portion would be a cost that a property tax proration doesn't capture at all.
Value still plays a part in two of these three, through the inside millage adjustment and the per-$100,000 bond estimate. Each one starts with a decision by voters, a budget commission or the legislature, though, and the reappraisal alone doesn't set any of them.
Your parcel's 14% may not be 14%
The district figure is an average, and the Auditor's method guarantees individual parcels will differ. Under the tentative value calculation, the neighborhood sales trend is applied to the 2025 improvement value, and the 2025 land value is then added back. It isn't one percentage applied to each home's prior total. As Auditor Michael Stinziano told NBC4, the office works to "compare similar lot sizes, similar features, similar history of those properties." On a Bexley lot where land makes up a large share of the total, the parcel's change can land well below the district average.
The figures also follow school district lines. The Auditor's chart is labeled by school district, and those boundaries may not match city limits exactly.
The Auditor's online levy estimator shows the parts that make up a real number. Tax is calculated on 35% of appraised value multiplied by the effective rate, and the parcel's nonbusiness, owner-occupancy and homestead credits are then subtracted. A listing sheet's tax figure reflects the prior owner's credits and a duplicate that predates the update. It doesn't tell you what a new owner's 2027 bill will be.
A short FAQ
When will a Bexley owner first pay tax based on the 2026 value? The values are for tax year 2026. Ohio collects real property tax in arrears, so the first bills reflecting them are payable in 2027.
Is it too late to question the new value? The informal review window closed in September. The Franklin County Board of Revision accepts tax year 2026 complaints through March 31, 2027, including from owners who skipped the informal review. A complaint challenges the appraised value, not the tax dollars on the bill.
Does HB 186's inflation cap credit lower Bexley bills? The Bexley City Schools forecast says the district isn't on the 20-mill floor and doesn't expect HB 186 to affect its taxes.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Before relying on a proration or a tax estimate, confirm your situation with your attorney, title company or tax professional.
If you're buying or selling in Bexley this winter, our team at Cece Miller Real Estate Group can walk you through how the 2026 update, the levy schedule and the contract's proration language apply to a specific address before you set terms. Request a Private Market Consultation, and we'll bring the Auditor's numbers for that parcel to the table.
