LFC Comments by Brian Massie:
Everyone is probably aware that a revaluation of Lake County property taxes is underway. We contacted the Lake County Auditor, Mr. Chris Galloway, and we sincerely appreciate his prompt response to our questions and his mission of increasing transparency of the entire process.
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Auditor Galloway,
I have been receiving questions from the community on the property revaluations.
Has the work been completed yet?
What is the average property value increase?
Are we correct in saying that the property taxes will automatically increase because of the inside millage factor?
Thanks for any information you can provide.
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Brian Massie
Lobbyists for Citizens
a 501 (c) (4) Non-Profit
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August 4, 2021
Email response from Mr. Chris Galloway, Lake County Auditor:
[Emphasis added by LFC]
We are working on it, and we are shooting for first week of September to send the notices to property owners.
It is not automatic that everyone’s property taxes will increase. Outside levies millage will be adjusted. Inside millage will increase but let’s say property A has an increase less than property B, the adjustment of the outside millage would change and could offset an increase in the inside millage. That’s theoretical.
I have not yet performed an analysis of how value changes will affect tax bills (not values) – neighborhood versus neighborhood. All that said, I do believe it is likely that most people will see an increase as a result of the inside millage because there will not be wildly diverging value increases of residential property across the county. A 10% increase in value does not equal a 10% increase in taxes.
Also to let you know, once we send out notices we will also publish to the web a Triennial dashboard on the web so taxpayers can see all the neighborhood value changes throughout the county. That’s part of our effort to increase the transparency of the process.
Chris
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Categories: Lake, Ohio Counties