Property taxes up sharply for some in the Cleveland-Akron area: find your new tax rate

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Garfield Heights voters heard the pleas of the city's schools last year and approved a 9.4-mill property tax increase. But it is being charged at a rate of 12.1 mills - or $371 per $100,000 of home value - now that it's part of the tax bill for the very first time. It's one reason that Garfield Heights' overall tax rate went up 28 percent to $3,572 per $100,000 of value, now ranking third highest in Ohio. ________________________________________ Tax bill details Find changes in tax rates, and how taxes in each place are distributed among local schools, counties, cities, libraries, parks and other local governments. ________________________________________ Here is how an average city tax bill of $2,213 per $100,000 of home value in the seven-county Cleveland-Akron area is divided. Note: many cites are not part of JVS districts, or are in counties without a community college, reducing the overall averages shown above for those purposes. Ken Marshall, Rich Exner, The Plain Dealer In the simplest of terms, when Ohio property values go down, the rates go up for many of the individual taxes that make up the total tax bill. The goal is to collect the same amount of money. That's why in Cuyahoga County, where home values were reduced by an average of 9 percent last year, property tax rates went up on average about 8 percent in the new bills due Thursday. Outside of places where significant new taxes were added last year, there was about a 50-50 chance of the bills going up or down, said Wade Steen, Cuyahoga County's fiscal officer. Rising tax rates have become almost universal in an era of sinking property values. A Plain Dealer analysis of the 377 unique taxing districts across the seven-county Cleveland-Akron area found just one case where the overall residential rate has declined over the last three years. And that was just by $1 per $100,000 of home value in the Geauga County area that includes Troy Township and the Berkshire schools. Tax rates, by county Average tax rates per $100,000 of home value by county and the change over the last three years. Each county updates property values every three years, impacting rates. County 2012 3-year change Cuyahoga $2,565 12.9% Geauga $1,735 7.7% Lake $2,085 17.2% Lorain $1,782 15.6% Medina $1,654 13.6% Portage $1,678 8.7% Summit $2,066 14.6% Three years were analyzed because each county in Ohio must update property values once every three years. The period following those appraisals is when rates change the most. Last year, was an appraisal year for Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain and Portage counties. Big changes In Garfield Heights and some other communities, the new bills contain changes that are so significant that they are surprising some taxpayers, even those who remember new taxes being approved last year. Cuyahoga County's Steen said he is getting a lot of questions from Clevelanders. Cleveland voters approved a 15-mill school levy in November amounting to $459 a year per $100,000 of home value. On top of that, because of declining property values, the rate went up another 5.4 mills, or $167, for Cleveland school taxes that have been on the books for years. The biggest tax rate increases regionally were in communities that are part of the Cleveland and Garfield Heights school districts. In Cleveland, Linndale, Newburgh Heights and Bratenahl – all part of the Cleveland school system, overall rates increased 27-35 percent. Property values fell there, ranging from 3 percent in Bratenahl to 30 percent on the East Side of Cleveland. Rates went up 28-29 percent in Garfield Heights, with the higher amount being in the small portion that is in the Cleveland school system There ordinarily is a limit on how much the rates can go up, regardless of sinking property values. But there are exceptions for certain taxes. Garfield Heights voters last March approved an "emergency" tax. In the case of such taxes, voters are agreeing to provide the money - $4.1 million a year in this case - regardless of what rate must be charged. So when the county appraiser dropped Garfield Heights home values by 21 percent on average, the rate went up. Homes are billed twice a year for property tax bills, with the 2013 bills covering 2012 taxes. Plain Dealer The big increase in Garfield Heights would not have happened if voters had approved a traditional operating levy, which is capped by the original millage amount. Now that property values have been reduced, it takes 12.1 mills to generate the $4.1 million. And it's the same reason that Garfield Heights emergency levies approved in 2010 and 2011 are now being charged at higher rates. School treasurer Allen Sluka said the district tried to educate the public ahead of time, but he still has been getting questions since the tax bills went out late last month. Tax bill examples Tax rates vary greatly from city to city. Here are six examples from across the region, with rates listed based on each $100,000 of home vale. Use the database above to find the same information for other places, and more details. Avon Lake Cleve- land Medina County $253 $405 $228 Schools $1,204 $1,596 $1,290 JVS $71 $0 $66 City $238 $389 $156 Library Dist. $86 $194 $62 Cnty. parks $40 $57 $23 Comm. college $101 $95 $0 Port $0 $3 $0 Total $1,992 $2,739 $1,825 North Olmsted Shaker Heights Will- oughby County $405 $405 $271 Schools $1,691 $2,811 $1,436 JVS $71 $0 $0 City $407 $303 $188 Library Dist. $77 $123 $66 Cnty. parks $57 $57 $83 Comm. college $95 $95 $94 Port $3 $3 $0 Total $2,806 $3,797 $2,138 Garfield Heights schools have more taxes tied to emergency levies -- 28 mills -- than any other government body in the state. Massillon schools (22.4 mills) are second highest statewide for emergency levies, followed by Willoughby-Eastlake (21.9 mills), Maple Heights (21) and Stow-Munroe Falls (20.6). Ohio's highest tax rates Leading the state in tax rates is the Shaker Square area of Cleveland. The portion of Cleveland that is in the Shaker Heights school system has a rate of $3,883. The city of Shaker Heights is second statewide at $3,797. Next is Garfield Heights, followed by the Cleveland-Heights/University Heights school areas in Cleveland Heights, South Euclid and University Heights, each at about $3,420. On the low end are mostly townships, where the average tax rate in the seven-county region is $1,795 per $100,000 of home value. Townships provide fewer government services. Driving these tax bills even lower is that home values are often lower in the townships, where some people feel they get more for their money. The 24 lowest rates regionally are all in townships, the lowest being the portion of Portage County's Deerfield Township that is in the West Branch Local School District. The rate there is $1,210. There are more taxing districts - 377 - than townships, villages and cities in the area, because many places are divided multiple ways. For example, Cleveland Heights, Broadview Heights and Lorain are among the cities with multiple school districts. So the overall rates there are different, depending on where a home is located within these towns.