Special-purpose governments may be divided into two classes - school districts and all others. The school districts that provide primary and secondary education have both directly elected governing boards and taxing authority. Other special-purpose districts do not have both of those.
There are three types of school districts providing primary and secondary education. They are the city district, the exempted village district and the local district. School district law may be found in ORC 33ll.
The city school district consists of the territory within the city, plus the territory attached to it for school purposes and minus the territory detached from it for school purposes. The city school district is exempt from the supervision of the county board of education.
The exempted village school district's boundaries contain the entire village plus any territory attached to it for school district purposes. The use of the term "exempted" refers to their exemption from the supervision of the county board of education. According to law, no exempted village school district shall be created after June 1, 1954.
School districts providing primary and secondary education, other than city school districts and exempted village school districts, are local school districts, and are under the supervision of the county board of education.
County boards of education are directly elected, but they do not possess taxing authority. The territory in a county school district includes the territory of all the local school districts in that county. If there is only one local school district, then the county board becomes the policy board of that district and it gains taxing authority.
The joint vocational school district is another type of school district. State law mandates that vocational education be available to all pupils, and that the minimum enrollment base for providing that education is 1,500 pupils.
Any two or more schools may reach this base by forming joint vocational school districts. The joint vocational school district board, in most cases, consists of one or more persons who are members of the boards of each constituent school district. The board so formed has taxing authority.
There are also many Ohio special districts for higher education. They include the community college district, the municipal university, the technical college district and the state community college. The policy boards of all these districts are appointed, and all, except the state community college district, have taxing authority (ORC 3349, 3354, 3357, and 3358).
Special districts may be established for many other purposes aside from education. They may be created by act of the Ohio General Assembly, by Constitutional amendment or by local governments. They each have separate policy boards, either appointed or elected, and also have sources of financing. Several examples of special-purpose districts follow.
The county library district board has seven members, three appointed by the common pleas judges and four by the county commission. The county commission is their taxing authority. The major source of funding for the county library district is the Ohio Library and Local Government Support Fund, which consists of 6.3% of the Ohio income tax. The board may hold title to property, spend funds, hire employees and establish rules for the operation and maintenance of free public libraries. ORC 3375 gives details of the various types of libraries in Ohio.
In each county there is a Soil and Water Conservation District. Their governing board is elected by county citizens over 18 years of age who attend the district annual meeting. The county commission is their taxing authority, and they are funded by state and county appropriations. The board is responsible for conducting surveys, developing plans, implementing measures and establishing rules to achieve soil conservation. Soil and Water Conservation District law is found in ORC chapter 1515.
Each Ohio resident lives in a health district. It may be either a city health district or a general health district. Each city shall have a health district, unless it chooses to become part of a general health district. A general health district consists of all the territory of a county not within a city health district.
Each health district has a policy board consisting of five persons. The city health district board is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the legislative authority. The city is their taxing authority.
The general health district board is appointed by an advisory board consisting of the president of the county commission, the chair of each board of township trustees and the chief executive officer of each municipality. The county commission is their taxing authority.
The general health district is primarily funded from apportionments from the tax levies of the townships and municipalities in the district, and from separate health district tax levies.
The health district board appoints a health commissioner and hires other employees necessary to carry out their duties. The board has powers to condemn and sell real property, quarantine people and establish rules for the protection of the public health. For more information see ORC 3709.
Many Ohio citizens live in a metropolitan housing authority district. Their governing board consists of five persons: one appointed by the county commission, one by the common pleas judge, one by the probate judge and two by the largest municipality in the district. If the district contains a population of at least one million, two each are appointed by the largest city's council and mayor, and one by the mayor of the second largest city.
It is the responsibility of the board to clear and rebuild slums and to provide safe and sanitary housing to low-income families in the district. They manage housing projects and federal housing programs. They may issue revenue bonds to accomplish their duties (ORC 3735).
There are several conservancy districts in Ohio. Each district has a three-person policy board appointed by the common pleas judges in the district. The board has taxing authority, and they may levy real property tax assessments based upon benefits.
The conservancy district board has vast authority to build upon, fill, drain, rechannel, clean, widen, deepen, etc., the waterways in the district. They may also provide for sewage disposal, water systems or irrigation (ORC 6101).
The probate judge may create a park district composed of all or parts of a county. The judge appoints three park commissioners as the district governing board. They have taxing authority. The park commissioners have the authority to acquire lands for the purpose of providing recreational activities (ORC 1545).
Each Ohio citizen lives in a solid waste management district. It may be single-county or multi-county, and its governing board may be either the county commissioners in the district or a board of trustees consisting of county, municipal and township officials, a health commissioner and a member representing the public at large. The board may issue revenue bonds, but the counties in the district act as the taxing authority. The board is responsible for constructing or maintaining a solid waste facility within the district, or for contracting the service out. They have considerable rule-making and fee-setting authority, under regulations established by the director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (ORC 343).
The alcohol, drug addiction and mental health service district replaced the community mental health district by a 1989 Act of the Ohio General Assembly. The purposes of the district are to establish a system of treatment for mentally ill persons and to promote the delivery of high quality and cost-effective alcohol and drug addiction programs.
Each district shall have 18 board members. The state directors of mental health and alcohol and drug addiction shall appoint four each, and the county commission shall appoint the remaining 10. The board must develop plans to provide services and must contract for those plans to be implemented, using local, state, and federal funds. The board has contracting authority, but they must rely on the county commission as their taxing authority (ORC 340).
This is but a small sampling of possible special districts. The author has identified more than 65, each with a different purpose.