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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Greater Cleveland/Akron property tax rates range widely from close to $4,000 a year per $100,000 of home value in some eastern suburbs of Cleveland to less than half that in townships in surrounding counties that don’t provide as many services.
The new rates released by the Ohio Department of Taxation are being used for 2020 tax bills, with the first half-year bills due later this month or in February, depending on the county.
The highest property tax rate in the area this year is $4,035 a year per $100,000 of home value in the portion of the city of Cleveland that is in the Shaker Heights school system. This is the Shaker Square area. The only higher rates statewide are in Harrison Township outside Dayton.
Close behind are the small part of South Euclid in the Cleveland Heights/University Heights school system ($3,991), all of Shaker Heights ($3,949) and the portion of Garfield Heights that is also in the Garfield Heights school system ($3,926), cleveland.com research found.
Homeowner tax bills are based on a variety of taxes, split among county and local governments, library districts, school systems, parks and others.
Because the various government districts split some cities and townships, there are a total of 381 tax districts with unique rates throughout the seven-county Greater Cleveland/Akron area of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit.
The median tax rate regionally is $1,999 a year per $100,000 of value. But the rates range greatly, and typically are lower in rural areas of outlying counties.
Find property tax rates in your community, and see trends since 2010.
Click here to load this Caspio Cloud DatabaseThe median rates by county are $1,648 in Medina, $1,706 in Portage, $1,817 in Lorain, $1,951 in Geauga, $2,146 in Summit, $2,215 in Lake and $2,596 in Cuyahoga, cleveland.com calculated.
There were rate increases this year in just over half of the taxing districts regionally.
Tax rates dropped 5% or more across much of Medina County, but this does not necessarily mean lower tax bills. The rate drops were mainly the result of increasing property values being placed on the books by the county auditor.
Ohio counties must adjust property values every three years. Last year was a reappraisal year for Medina County. Since many of the taxes that go into the total tax bill are designed to raise a set amount of money, where property values went up communitywide, the rates had to be reduced.
Reappraisals will take place this year, and will affect 2021 bills, in Summit and Geauga counties. They will be done in Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain and Portage counties next year.
The sharpest increases regionally were the result of voter-approved levies on last year’s ballots. Tax rates are up:
Most all property taxes are the product of voters approving levies or bond issues.
But in recent years, there has been another factor at work in increasing bills, or keeping them higher. Ohio lawmakers, at the urging of Republican Gov. John Kasich, in 2013 changed property tax state laws. Previously, 12.5% of the homeowners’ bill was covered by the state of Ohio. That is not the case for taxes approved beginning in November 2013.
The fallout from that change has increased over the years, averaging an extra $35 a year per $100,000 of home value across all districts regionally. But in some places it is much higher, including an extra $104 per $100,000 of home value in Wickliffe, and more than $80 each in Cleveland Heights, University Heights, a portion of South Euclid, and Painesville Township.
Another change approved in 2013 by state lawmakers and the governor kept property tax bills higher for people reaching age 65 on Jan. 1, 2014, or later. Previously, all seniors qualified for a tax break (reduction of their home value by $25,000 for tax purposes). Those already getting it got to keep the discount. But those reaching 65 on Jan. 1, 2014, or later must meet low-income requirements to qualify for the discount.
The senior discount, with current tax rates, typically is worth more than $500 a year in Greater Cleveland, ranging from $300 in the lowest taxing areas to about $1,000 in the places with the highest tax rates.
Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. Find data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.
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