A bill that aims to help Ohio voters better understand levy issues on the ballot was recently signed into law.

“This is a huge win for taxpayers and transparency. Voters should not need a calculator when voting,” said State Representative Derek Merrin of Monclova, who sponsored House Bill 140.

The new law will require the amount a levy will collect annually to be included in ballot language.

It also requires property tax rates be expressed in terms of $100,000 of the county auditor’s appraised value, so voters can easily understand impact of tax levies, he noted.

“Voters have been misled for decades by ballot language that omits how much a levy will cost and absurdly expresses impact in $287 increments,” State Rep. Merrin said. “The bill empowers taxpayers by providing accurate and relevant facts they need when voting.”

The new law also requires all levy issues to be printed and displayed in the same font size and prohibits select words from being printed in bold to emphasize some words over others.