Lake County Ohio Property taxes

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County has the highest property tax rates in Ohio, but other large counties are not far behind.

Property tax rates in Ohio range from an average countywide of $1, 033 in Lawrence County to $2, 721 in Cuyahoga County.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

In fact, among Ohio's 88 counties, those with the highest average property tax rates are - in order - Cuyahoga County, Montgomery County (Dayton), Franklin County (Columbus), Lucas County (Toledo) and Hamilton County (Cincinnati), cleveland.com found in analyzing new tax rates statewide.

Average rates in these counties range from $2, 721 per $100, 000 of home value in Cuyahoga County to $2, 247 in Hamilton County.

These same counties are five of the six largest in population. Summit County, ranks fourth for population and seventh for average tax rate.

Elsewhere in Greater Cleveland, the average rates are $2, 165 in Lake County, $2, 134 in Summit, $1, 903 in Lorain, $1, 847 in Geauga, $1, 769 in Medina and $1, 754 in Portage.

Statewide, rates average $1, 611 per $100, 000 of home value.

Rates are the lowest, on average, in Lawrence County, in southern Ohio. The average rate there is $1, 033 per $100, 000 of home value, or just 38 percent of Cuyahoga County's average rate.

Some good news for Cuyahoga County homeowners, however, is that rates are actually down in most places this year. In large part, this is due to increasing property values identified in last year's reappraisals conducted by the county.

When property values go up, the rates for many voted taxes go down so that that same amount of money is collected.

Countywide, partially because of some new taxes in places, homeowner tax bills are up an average of 1.7 percent this year, a Cuyahoga County spokeswoman said.

Highest rates

Here are the property tax rates across Greater Cleveland. The highest rates are in Shaker Square, Shaker Heights and Garfield Heights. These rates for 2015 are used for bills due in 2016.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

A portion of Harrison Township outside Dayton is home to the highest property tax rate in Ohio, working out to $4, 144 per $100, 000 of home value, state records show.

The only other places where rates top $4, 000 are in Cuyahoga County.

Second statewide at $4, 087 per $100, 000 of home value is the Shaker Square area of Cleveland, a neighborhood that pays city taxes to Cleveland and school taxes to Shaker Heights.

Third is the the portion of Garfield Heights that is also in the Garfield Heights school district, at $4, 005. Shaker Heights is close behind at $4, 002.

The lowest rates in Cuyahoga County, at just $1, 851 per $100, 000 of home value, are in the villages of Brooklyn Heights and Cuyahoga Heights.

Kelleys Island is lowest in Ohio at $803 per $100, 000 of home value.

Biggest increases

The biggest increases in Greater Cleveland this year are mostly where voters agreed to new levies last year - topped by Wickliffe, where the rate went up $287 to $2, 408 a year. Wickliffe voters in November approved a 7.9-mill school levy.

Other big increases regionally are in:

• Communities in the Keystone school district in Lorain County. Voters there approved a 7.95-mill levy, accounting for most the change in bills this year, ranging from increases of $237 to $250 per $100, 000 of home value, depending on whether homeowner is in a city, village or township.
• East Cleveland, with an increase of $240 per $100, 000, due in large part to a 15 percent decline in residential property values identified by the new county appraisals. The lower values meant higher rates were needed to meet existing obligations for the school district.
• Sheffield and Sheffield Lake in Lorain County, where taxes are up $228 after approval of a 6.53-mill levy.

Areas of Northeast Ohio with the sharpest increases in property tax rates this year are shown in red. Those in dark green are places where the rates have decreased the most.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

Overall, tax rates are up at least $100 per $100, 000 of home value in only 40 of the 377 taxing districts in the seven-county Greater Cleveland/Akron area.

Rates are up at least some in 202 taxing districts, and down in the 175 others. There are more taxing districts than towns and townships because many places are split by school districts.

The biggest decrease regionally was for Shaker Heights, with the rate dropping about $150 per $100, 000 of home value. This was because of rising property values, up 5 percent to 10 percent across much of the city.

However, there could be little change on the tax bills as a whole in Shaker Heights, because the lower rates are being applied to the new home values, said schools treasurer Bryan Chirstman. He said changes in an individual's bill depended on how their property value changed.