DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, has long claimed that although he lives with his family in Upper Arlington, his real home is in his district in Kettering.

But legal documents involving property owned by Husted and his wife, Tina, raise new questions about his principal place of residence.

Those documents show that Jon and Tina Husted received a property tax break on the Upper Arlington home she owned at the same time he got a tax reduction for his Kettering home.

Ohio law says a couple can only take that tax reduction on one home.

Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith, a Democrat, and Franklin County Auditor Joe Testa, a Republican, said they will investigate to see if the law was broken. Since they married in 2005, Jon and Tina Husted each claimed a separate house as a primary residence on legal documents that trigger the 2.5 percent property tax reduction for owner-occupied homes.

"The 2.5 percent reduction is meant to be on one property and one property only. It's supposed to be your primary residence," said Keith. "Those are legal documents. You are signing those documents under penalty of perjury."

A "principal residence" is a person's legal, permanent residence and used to determine where a person can vote, according to John Kohlstrand, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation.

By law, Husted cannot run for the Legislature if he does not live in his district. He is registered to vote in Kettering.

Husted said he stays in an Upper Arlington house with his wife and children because his job as Speaker keeps him in Columbus more than most legislators.

He would not say how often he sleeps in his Kettering home, nor whether he plans to move his family to that house once he relinquishes his Speaker duties this year, or if he is elected to the Ohio 6th District Senate seat.

His opponent in that race, Democrat John Doll, said Husted should forfeit his seat if it turns out he does not legally reside in the district.

Husted said he does live in the district and was unaware of the tax issue. It did not involve a great deal of money. Between 2005 and 2007, the property tax reduction saved the Husteds $577.04 on Tina's house and $205.08 on his house.

"Along the lines of everything you asked me today, with technical details and all these kinds of things, at this point I don't know that anybody has questioned whether I've done a great job," Husted said. "I will continue to do a great job."