"Income Isn't Rising With Property Valuations": Cuyahoga County Dems Urge State to Provide Relief on Climbing Property Taxes

A handful of Cuyahoga County and state Democrats gathered in a room on the fourth floor of the County Headquarters on East 9th on Tuesday morning with one consistent, resonating message:

Property values are increasing next year. But that's not our fault.

In the spring, Cuyahoga County officials announced that home and property owners would see values jump, on average, 32 percent across the board following the sexennial reappraisal.

Such high spikes, framed by officials as kind of catching up from the devastation of the Great Recession, were also highly disparate depending on whether one's house is in the city or the suburbs: While property values are set to climb about 25 percent in suburbs like Westlake, Orange and North Royalton, properties in Cleveland are set, a map shows, to nearly double.

That resulting complication—double the appraised values in a city with nearly half the household incomes of the suburbs that surround it—led the Democrats present Tuesday morning to reassert their fight to right the perceived wrongs decided by a state legislature outside of their control.
[content-1] "If you think your valuation is too high, tell us," County Executive Chris Ronayne told media present. "As a reminder, a 30-percent increase in value does not necessarily mean a 30-percent increase in your taxes. Again, valuation increase does not mean tax increase."

Orchestrated by the County's Fiscal Office every six years at the demand's of the state, a mass reappraisal, carried out by a phalanx of field workers surveying homes from the sidewalks, carries a load of political implications.

These re-evaluations—despite Ronayne's optimism—usually do result in higher tax payments come March for most homeowners.

For example, a Clevelander with a home valued at about $150,000 in 2023 would see that property value shoot up to $223,500 come 2025. And they'd pay, according to the county's oh-so-convenient tax calculator, $4,648 in taxes—about a $660 increase from the year before.

To combat the blow, especially to seniors and the disabled on a fixed income, County and state reps devised a series of tax alleviators. Property owners can use EasyPay to "prepay" in monthly installments; chip off some taxes if they're over 65 and lower-income ; get a 2.5 percent reduction for married homeowners ; and delay tax payments if they're in the military .

Everyone else can submit a complaint to the county, electronically , by mail or in person, if they feel that their property value reassement isn't just or fair. These complaints must include an appraisal from the last three years; photos of home damage or maintenance; repairs estimates; a purchase agreement and sales comparisons for other homes.

And these complaints, Ronayne reiterated this morning, must be submitted by Friday.

The more longterm fix, Ronayne said, lied in the strength of the legislation his fellow Dems were fighting to see considered in Ohio congress, from H.B. 263—which would freeze property taxes for residents age 70 and older who make less than $70,000—to H.B. 645, which would dole out $1,000 rebates.

Grocery prices aren't predicted to fall. And neither are home prices themselves.

"We need help," he said. "The reality [is] that that the two ends aren't meeting: income isn't rising with property valuations. And so we support every bill that these state representatives have put forth."

All three representatives flanking Ronayne and his call to residents—Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, Rep. Phil Robinson and Rep. Sean Brennan—warned those eyeing higher payments in 2025 to see those upcoming burdens as malleable and fixed to a political system that, with the right votes, Ohioans have control over.

Ronayne's guests also pointed to another assumption: lowering these taxes would require a levy at the county level.

"I want to be very clear, that is a false choice," Sweeney said. She hinted at reworking of Ohio's $90 billion budget, one that could see, if legislation is passed, a ramping up of workarounds like the homesteaders exemption: "We have the money to pay at the state for property tax relief now."

And not just for those who own .

"I was a former renter. I know I pay property taxes," Brennan told the crowd. "Anybody in the room that pays rent knows you pay property taxes and your rents are going up."

"I've got many senior citizens in my district calling me, telling me they don't know how they're going to afford their rent because it just went up $150 a month," he added. "I've been on the phone in tears with some of these folks because they just don't know how they're going to do it."[content-2]
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