How Can My Property Value Go Up, But My Property Taxes Go Down
BY BRIAN MASSIE, Originally posted on Lobbyist For Citizens
LAKE COUNTY - I thought that my property taxes would increase dramatically in 2025 because of the sexennial revaluation, my school district being at the 20 mill floor, and my township passing a 3.96 mill levy for another fire station. However, I actually will realize a $230.52 reduction (2.5%) in my property taxes.
How do my property values go up 10%, but my property taxes go down 2.5%?
It gets complicated, but let me try to explain:
- The Riverside School District ended up at 20.00004 for the 20 mill floor calculation. They will not get $3.6 million they anticipated. My guess it will be more in the range of $900,000 – $1,000,000 because only the inside millage will be impacted by the sexennial revaluation. (The inside millage is about 25% of the 20 mill floor, therefore, the revenue from inside millage should be approximately 25% of the $3.6 million.)
- Since the increase in my home value was “only” 10% compared to the 20% – 35% increase in other homes in my taxing district, my home value percentage used to determine my share of the Taxing District’s total tax burden has decreased compared to last year.
The following are two charts that tries to explain the impact of the sexennial revaluation and the individual homeowner’s contribution to the the total property taxes for a theoretical Taxing District A.
We created an animated video on the subject trying another method of explaining the same concept. Your individual home value is compared to the overall values in your taxing district, and your percentage is applied to the total taxes to be collected for your district.
Lake County Commissioner John Plecnik and Mayor and Timber Lake Mayor John Marra will be speaking on property tax reform today, January 25, at 1:00 p.m. at the Hungarian Reformed Church Conference Center 15300 Puritas Ave, Cleveland, OH 44135.
