(A) Composition and procedures. A Board of Review, consisting of three members, residents of the municipality, to be appointed by the Mayor and approved by Council, is hereby created and shall be maintained to hear appeals. The members of the Board of Review shall be appointed for a term of three years; however, the members of the first Board of Review shall be appointed for (one, two and three years respectively). A majority of the members of the Board shall constitute a quorum. The Board shall adopt its own procedural rules and shall keep a record of its transactions. Any hearing by the Board shall be conducted privately and the provisions of § 39.28 with reference to the confidential character of information required to be disclosed by the subchapter shall apply to such matters as may be heard before the Board on appeal.
(B) Appeal, an alternative method of allocation. All rules and regulations and amendments or changes thereto which are adopted by the Tax Administrator under the authority conferred by this subchapter, must be approved by the Board of Review before the same become effective. After such approval, such rules, regulations, amendments and changes shall be filed with the Clerk of Council and shall be open to public inspection. The Board shall hear and pass on appeals from any ruling or decision of the Tax Administrator, and, at the request of the taxpayer or Tax Administrator, is empowered to substitute alternate methods of apportionment.
(C) Tax Administrator’s decision. Whenever the Tax Administrator issues a decision regarding an income tax obligation that is subject to appeal as provided in this section, or in an ordinance or regulation of the municipality, the Tax Administrator shall notify the taxpayer in writing at the same time of the taxpayer's right to appeal the decision and of the manner in which the taxpayer may appeal the decision.
(D) Appeal by aggrieved person. Any person who is aggrieved by a decision by the Tax Administrator and who has filed with the municipality the required returns or other documents pertaining to the municipal income tax obligation at issue in the decision may appeal the decision to the Board of Review by filing a request with the Board. The request shall be in writing, shall state with particularity why the decision should be deemed incorrect or unlawful, and shall be filed within 30 days after the Tax Administrator has issued the decision.
(E) Penalty and interest not sole basis for appeal. The imposition of penalty and interest as prescribed in the codified ordinance of the municipality is not a sole basis for an appeal.
(F) Hearing. The Board of Review shall schedule a hearing within 45 days after receiving the request, unless the taxpayer waives a hearing. If the taxpayer does not waive the hearing, the taxpayer may appear before the Board and may be represented by an attorney at law, certified public accountant or other representative.
(G) Board action. The Board may affirm, reverse, or modify the Tax Administrator's decision or any part of that decision. The Board shall issue a decision on the appeal within 90 days after the Board's final hearing on the appeal, and send notice of its final decision by ordinary mail to all of the parties to the appeal within 15 days after issuing the decision. The taxpayer or the Tax Administrator may appeal the Board's decision as provided in Ohio R.C. § 5717.011.
(H) Board procedures and records. Each Board of Review created pursuant to this section shall adopt rules governing its procedures and shall keep a record of its transactions. Such records are not public records available for inspection under Ohio R.C. § 149.43. Hearings requested by a taxpayer before a Board of Review created pursuant to this section are not meetings of a public body subject to Ohio R.C. § 121.22.
(1995 Code, § 39.31) (Ord. 73-11, passed 2-19-1973; Am. Ord. 2003-O-53, passed 12-22-2003)