(a) The Real Property Tax Escrow Fund previously established under the County Charter is renamed the Real Estate Escrow Discount Program and shall be operated in accordance with the County Charter and Section 321.45 of the Ohio Revised Code, as amended.
(b) It shall be the duty of the County Fiscal Officer to administer, accept and invest moneys properly received and credited to the Real Estate Discount Program and to serve by agreement as escrow agent on behalf of any taxpayer for the acceptance and disbursal of moneys as escrowed real property tax and assessment payments.
(c) The Fiscal Officer shall invest funds received and credited to the Real Estate Discount Program Fund. As provided in Section 321.45, the Fiscal Officer agrees to accept prepayments and hold them in either an escrow fund or a separate depository account until the last day that an installment of current taxes may be paid without penalty, at which time, the Fiscal Officer further agrees to apply the prepayments collected toward the payment of the current taxes due on a parcel or manufactured or mobile home. If a discount is not provided under Section 321.45(B)(2), any earning on prepayments in an escrow fund or depository account shall be paid to the credit of a special interest account to be used by the Fiscal Officer only for the payment of the expenses incurred in establishing and administering the prepayment collection system under Section 321.45(B)(1).
(d) The Fiscal Officer may extend for taxpayers enrolled in the Real Estate Discount Program the real estate collection deadlines without imposing the statutory ten percent (10%) late penalty for both the first and second hold tax collections in order to comply with the statutory twenty-one (21) day notice period under Section 323.13 of the Ohio Revised Code.
(Ord. 2002-660. Adopted 11-4-02.)