Portage County property owners were gobsmacked last year when they received their new property valuations. Many wondered where the money will go, and some are even calling for the total elimination of property taxes.
But the issue is complex, and any changes would affect millions of dollars in funding for local services that Portage County residents depend on.
As Ohio law now stands, county auditors must conduct property revaluations every three to six years. The most recent round of revaluations has Portage County collecting some $39 million more this year in tax dollars than it did in 2024, according to the county treasurer.
The Portage County government gets to keep 2 mills, which this year translates to some $10.9 million a year going to the county’s general fund for county departments and other operating expenses. The rest of the money is distributed to the county’s political jurisdictions: cities, villages and townships.
That’s a significant boost, considering the county’s 2024 budget was $67.3 million.
Since Portage County’s commissioners set the budget at the beginning of each year, all county department budgets won’t change until 2026.
County Commissioner Mike Tinlin said he and his colleagues have not discussed where the added dollars will be directed. They don’t even know exactly how much money they will be dealing with, he said.
“To my knowledge, at this time nothing has been allocated or spent. The money will be unused until we have our budget hearings and make a determination as to where the necessity is. I think we start looking at things in October,” he said.
Tinlin said the commissioners will continue to work within the budget they set at the beginning of this year. But Treasurer John Kennedy predicted that department heads, well aware that the county now has more money, will likely be asking for increases.
“People are thinking about that, and they’re putting together their budgets for this year and next year,” Kennedy said. “It’s natural to think about projects and personnel you’ve put off to the side. You don’t get if you don’t ask, and now’s the time to ask. You never know when the coffers are going to be this full again.”
Looking toward the future, Tinlin said he doesn’t foresee any major spending increases.
“We’ll have to look at the entire picture. I don’t work on wants. I work on what is needed to operate this county,” he said.
Hundreds of local residents attended a presentation in March hosted by a group called Project Promise advocating the total elimination of property taxes.
Its members — and other like-minded Ohio groups — have proposed a constitutional amendment to that effect. If the Ohio Ballot Board certifies the proposal, the petitioners will have to collect enough signatures from registered voters to place the measure on the ballot.
That would be a lot of signatures: Over 400,000 people from at least 44 counties would have to sign it.
But abolishing property taxes would have far-reaching implications for counties, schools, townships and villages.
Where do property taxes go?
To answer that question, it’s important to understand a mill — and what’s the difference between inside and outside millage?
A lesson from Portage County Auditor Matt Kelly: Property taxes are charged as mills, one mill being equal to one-tenth of a cent. Assessed value — what property taxes are based on — is 35% of a property’s fair market value.
Ohio law allows counties, schools, townships, villages and cities to collect up to 10 mills of property tax revenue without asking for voter approval. That revenue is called inside millage.
Depending on where a property is located, anywhere between 3.8 mills to 6.5 of inside millage goes to the local school district, and anywhere from 1.3 mills to 4.2 mills goes to the township, village or city. Actual dollar amounts vary.
Then there’s outside millage, which are the levy requests voters often encounter at the polls. Those requests typically fund schools, bond issues, current expenses for fire/EMS, police, roads and bridges, permanent improvements, libraries, parks, the Portage County Mental Health & Recovery Board, Job & Family Services of Portage County, and the Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
One thing that’s important to note: Levies can never generate more revenue than originally intended. That’s why even if a person’s property value increases, the schools or other recipients receive the same amount of money from a given levy.
But that doesn’t mean the recipients of local taxes have fixed costs. Salaries, supplies and other operation costs usually increase over the years. That’s why voters see continuing, replacement, additional, renewal and emergency levy bids on their ballots.
All of which is to say that the owner of a $200,000 property, with an assessed value of $70,000, may be subject to 10 mills of inside (unvoted) millage and another (for example purposes only) 20 mills of additional, or outside millage. That property owner would be liable for $2,100 a year: $700 in inside millage and $1,400 in outside millage.
According to the county auditor’s office, the average property valuation in Portage County is now $264,180, up from $201,985 last year. The average valuation of residential and agricultural land is now $206,920, up from $154,460 in 2024. The average value of commercial properties is now $648,730, up from $524,865 a year ago.
The county appraiser’s assessment of each property’s fair market value does not necessarily reflect a Realtor’s assessment of the home’s value or what that property would sell for on the market, Realtor Scott Tinlin told The Portager.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.