Lorain County Auditor Craig Snodgrass said most residents should expect a decrease in their property tax bill this year.
The announcement came during a Jan. 18 news conference in which Snodgrass said the majority of communities in the county will see a decrease in their taxes due to the expansion of the tax base paying into the Lorain County General Health District.
The auditor’s office uses a fictional house valued at $100,000 to calculate sample tax increases.
Based on this fictional home, tax district 50 in North Ridgeville shows the largest decrease in the tax bill coming in at $32.82 below last year, Snodgrass said.
The sharpest increase is in tax district 32, which is a section of Elyria Township within the Keystone Local School District.
Snodgrass said the fictional home would see a $101.37 increase on this year’s tax bill.
Lorain, which is split into six tax districts, can expect an average increase of $16.77.
Elyria, which is split into three tax districts, can expect an average increase of $24.56.
Snodgrass, who lives in tax district 43 in Lorain, said he will see a $35.86 increase in his taxes this year.
Because the county is on the third year of a tri-annual revaluation, the changes are again based on levies passed in 2017.
Snodgrass also outlined changes in valuation due to sales and new home building in the county.
Overall, the county had a $72 million increase in the residential and agricultural valuation.
North Ridgeville led the county with a $17.7 million increase in valuation, up 2.58 percent from last year, he said.
“A lot of growth out that way, a lot of new housing developments going up all over the place,” Snodgrass said.
Next in line was Avon with $16.5 million in growth, up 2.55 percent from the previous year; and Avon Lake with $14 million in growth, up 1.95 percent from last year.
The biggest loss in valuation this year was tax district 43 in Lorain that dropped $458,340. That’s 11 percent lower than last year.
Snodgrass said the county had 7,424 property transactions in 2017, bringing in $5.1 million in conveyance fees.
That is a record for the county, he said.
“It was very busy for us,” Snodgrass said.
The decreases and increases will be seen in tax bills that already have been sent out, and are due for payment by Feb. 16, he said.
The bills can be made in person at the county treasurer’s office at 226 Middle Ave. in Elyria, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
If you choose to mail your check, it will be considered timely if it is postmarked on or before Feb. 16, according to a release from Lorain County Treasurer Daniel J. Talarek.
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