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Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025
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Get ready for bigger tax bills Owen MacMillan The Community Guide
Lorain County homeowners will pay a total of nearly $34 million more in property taxes than they did last year due to rising property values and a quirk of state tax law. Lorain County Auditor Craig Snodgrass said that the increase in total property tax revenue was the largest he had ever seen. Property values in Lorain County increased by 31 percent on average in the Auditor’s Office’s six-year reappraisals. Snodgrass said that bump was mirrored across much of the U.S. In 2024, the total property tax value owed by Lorain County homeowners increased by $33,980,296; in 2023, the total increased by just $390,000. “I can’t believe that number,” Snodgrass said. “We’ve triple checked, we’ve quadruple checked to make sure it’s right. It’s right.” While the increase in taxes is due to the rise in property value, Snodgrass said it is more complicated, as the massive bump in taxes is caused by a state law meant to limit the tax burden on residents with rising property values. Ohio’s property tax system is designed with a safeguard to protect homeowners from being drowned in taxes as their property value rises, but in Lorain County that intended safeguard actually caused a dramatic boost in property
taxes. In Ohio, local governments can charge residents up to 10 mills, units the state uses to determine property taxes, as a part of an unvoted property tax known as inside millage. Any additional taxes the government wants to levy must be passed at the ballot box and designed to raise a certain amount of money, which is converted to mills for tax purposes. As property values rise, the state applies what is known as a reduction factor to the millage, ensuring that rising property values don’t create taxes beyond the dollar value the levy was approved for. An additional state law requires that school districts are funded with at least 20 mills to guarantee the schools are adequately funded. In 2024, property rates increased dramatically while millage was reduced by the reduction factor, dropping most districts in the county below 20 mills of funding. According to state law, the difference in the district’s total millage must be made up by taxing the district’s property owners. The end result is that many property owners in the county are paying between 9 percent and 30 percent more in taxes, mostly to their local school district. “Taxpayers are going to pay $34 million more because of the 20-mill floor adjustment that
the state has,” Snodgrass said. “Last year it was about $390,000. I saw this number, it’s just mind boggling. Again, we expected rates to go down because the values went up and they did, but they would’ve gone down even further had it not been for this adjustment. And the taxpayers would’ve gotten greater relief and not have to pay this.” For a specific example Snodgrass used the city of Amherst, where he lives, which saw an average home value increase of 29.53 percent and a reduction in net millage of 8.52 mills. In Amherst, a hypothetical home worth $100,000 in 2023 would have paid $1,676 in property taxes. In 2024, that home would be worth $129,530 and the property owner would expect to pay $1,830 in 2024, a tax increase of just over 9 percent. Amherst was on the lower end of tax increases when compared to somewhere like Pittsfield Township, where the value of a hypothetical $100,000 would have rocketed to $140,260. That home’s taxes would have seen a similar explosion, rising by 25 percent to hit $2,263 in 2024. The largest amount of funding for falling below the 20-mill floor will go to Avon Lake Schools, which will receive $4.5 million more in revenue from 2024 taxes. North Ridgeville Schools will receive the
FROSTY THE HUTT’S DOMAIN
Tax bills going out The Lorain County Treasurer’s Office will send out 154,256 tax bills on Friday. Lorain County Treasurer Daniel Talarek said payments are due by Feb. 14, with a 10 percent late fee for payments made or postmarked after that date. Residents should contact the Treasurer’s Office if they have not received a tax statement by Jan. 31. Payments can be made online at lctreasurer.com, by phone at (440) 3356434, or in person or mailed to 226 Middle Ave., Elyria. Mailed payments must be pFostmarked on or before Feb. 14. More info at the Treasurer’s Office at (440) 329-5787.
second most with an additional $4.29 million in revenue, while Elyria, Midview and Avon Schools will all receive just north of $3.6 million in unvoted funding. Snodgrass said house sales held steady in 2024, indicating that property values were likely to remain high or even increase further over the next three years. He said he was confident that Lorain County taxpayers would be footing the new $34 million bill for the next three years.
City disputes cavity-search lawsuit filing Mercy Health sues Lorain and county Carissa Woytach The Community Guide
BRUCE BISHOP / COMMUNITY GUIDE
It may be too cold for us earthlings but this snow creation with substantial girth that resembles a certain desert planet crime boss from “Star Wars” finds it out of this world. The Jabba lookalike was seen in Elyria at Hamilton Street near Washington Avenue.
LORAIN — City officials pushed back on allegations made by Mercy Health Lorain in its federal lawsuit against the city and county filed Dec. 31. Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley, Law Director Pat Riley and Police Chief Jim McCann all called statements made in Mercy’s filings untrue, going so far as to allege the hospital’s president lied in his affidavit. Mercy Health - Lorain filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Lorain, Lorain County and several city and county officials for alleged discriminatory and retaliatory behavior after its doctors refused to execute a search warrant and invasive exam of a man in police custody in August who, according to police, had suspected narcotics in his rectum. Its filing stated the execution of the warrant would have “amounted to a medical battery.” The search warrant at the center of the lawsuit involves a passenger of a vehicle stopped by the Lorain police Patrol Impact Team in August.
Tony Harris, 31, of Lorain, was the backseat passenger in a vehicle stopped by members of the PIT around 7:45 p.m. Aug. 10. The vehicle, according to officer reports, was seen leaving West 23rd and Beech Avenue after being parked in front of a home on Beech. It was stopped for a turn signal violation on Washington Avenue from nearby Central Drive. Lorain’s Patrol Impact Team, or PIT, uses statistics to target crime hot spots in the city. Its officers are separate from regular road patrols and often use informant information or traffic stops to find individuals allegedly in possession of illicit substances. According to the initial incident report, officers stopped the gray GMC SUV for a turn signal violation and its temporary registration behind the tinted rear window, making it unreadable. Officers reportedly saw “furtive movements” inside the vehicle at the time of the stop, and asked all passengers out of the vehicle. Initially, Harris refused to See CAVITY SEARCH, A4
INSIDE THIS WEEK Amherst
Big Brothers moving
Lots of hoops
Find out police actions on blotter. A3
Outgrew its old place; moving near LCCC. A4
High school basketball scores, photos. A6
SPORTS A6 • CROSSWORD A7 • SUDOKU A7 • KID SCOOP A8