Property taxes held steady

Auditor said no mass value changes in 2020; officials expect increase this time around

Lorain County property values stayed relatively consistent in 2020, but officials are expecting increases in 2021 in their three-year update.

During his annual news conference Jan. 15, Lorain County Auditor Craig Snodgrass said there were no mass value changes for 2020.

“The only change in value you might have incurred, is if you had some new construction,” Snodgrass said. “Maybe it reduced values because of demolition, or possibly had a board of revision or board of tax appeal case which made some adjustments to value.

“But for the most part, no one would have had a value change.

So really, whatever changes in their tax bill, is due to levies.”

The Auditor’s Office collected more than $6 million in conveyance fees on property transfers in what Snodgrass is calling a record year during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The figures added up to $4 for every $1,000 in property

valuation on more than 8,000 property transactions, he said.

North Ridgeville led the way with an additional $31.5 million in valuation as the fastest growing city in Lorain County and only an additional $3.82 in property tax increases per $100,000 valuation.

Market trends

The three-year triennial update is an update based on sales history data and will be the first time values will be looked at since 2018 reappraisals, which saw Lorain County property values rise by 11.6 percent.

Snodgrass said consumers set the market that indicate where the property valuations should be.

According to documents provided by the Auditor’s Office, residential sales ratios across the county all are fairly stable outside of a couple of small outliers.

“Our value is only about 75 percent of sales,” Snodgrass said. “Remember, as I said earlier, we want to be about 95 percent.

“So, it’s a good trend in the sense that our investments are growing . ... But it also indicates that we’re going to have to probably be looking toward some increases.”

Snodgrass said it is too early to predict how big of an increase Lorain County property values could be looking at in 2021.

He pointed to sales ratios following the 2018 reappraisals as a good starting point.

In 2018, most of Lorain County was at 90 to 95 percent, with the cities of Lorain and Elyria coming in at greater than 95 percent.

Tax assessments

Lorain County Treasurer Daniel J. Talarek announced that 151,532 real estate and tax assessments have been processed and delivered to the post office with a Feb. 12 due date.

Payments will be accepted in a drop box conveniently situated in the vestibule of the Lorain County Administration Building, 226 Middle Ave. in Elyria, by mail and online (through

the taxpayer’s financial institution.

No cash payments will be accepted. Taxpayers who mail their check will be considered timely if their payment is postmarked on or before Feb. 12.

Ohio law requires that a 10 percent penalty fee be assessed to all payments postmarked after the closing date.

“Logistics do not allow for our office to comply with the governor’s social distancing policies,” Talarek said. “For safety purposes, the public will not be permitted to enter the Treasurer’s Office.”