ELYRIA — Residential property values throughout Lorain County dropped an average of 6 percent, county Auditor Mark Stewart announced Friday.

That will likely mean lower tax bills for homeowners, but it will also mean less revenue flowing into the coffers of already cash-strapped school districts, cities, villages and townships.

Lorain County government will receive about $698,000 less from property taxes next year, Stewart estimated.

“The county’s going to have a difficult time absorbing the impact of that,” said county Commissioner Ted Kalo, adding that the news makes convincing voters to leave in place a 0.5 percent sales tax increase even more important to avoid deeper cuts in county government.

The reduced property values — which varied from the highest general reduction of 9 percent in Lorain to lower reductions of 4 percent in communities like Avon and Oberlin —  are part of a triennial review of the property values throughout the county that Stewart’s office is required to perform.

The county last reviewed property tax values in 2006 when a full appraisal of every piece of property in the county showed a general increase in residential property values of 12 to 13 percent, said Tom Johnson, Stewart’s chief appraiser.

Stewart said the recession and the housing bust that has plagued the entire nation also lower home values locally. His own home on Kent Circle in Elyria dropped in value from $201,300 to $187,200, Stewart said during a news conference Friday.

“It’s based on sales,” he said. “It’s really just an analysis of the data.”

Stewart said that although the state had recommended he increase the value of commercial and industrial property in the county during the review, he resisted doing so. Those values have remained about the same as they were in 2006.

Exactly what the impact of the drop in residential values will be on individual tax bills remains to be seen. Stewart said homeowners can still challenge the new values on their homes and the tax bills, which will be mailed in January, won’t be calculated until after the election next month.

Several school districts have property tax levies on the ballot, including North Ridgeville Schools, which will lose an estimated $308,000 because of the drop in property values.

Biagio Sidoti, the district’s treasurer, said the district is asking voters to renew an older levy and impose a new one that will bring in nearly $1.4 million annually.

He said the district has an annual budget of about $37 million, about $20 million of which comes from property taxes. North Ridgeville property values dropped an average of 5 percent, according to Stewart’s numbers, and Sidoti said he fully expected the district to take a hit in its property tax revenue.

“It’s not a surprise,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this is what it is.”

Elyria Schools will also take an estimated hit of about $216,800 next year because of the average 8 percent drop in residential property values in the city, according to Stewart’s numbers.

It could have been worse for the district — which has an annual budget of about $70 million — said Treasurer Fred Stephens, who pointed out the school system is also grappling with reduced or stagnant revenue from other sources, including the state.

“It didn’t hurt us as bad as it could have,” he said.

The reduced property values are something the district and other government entities will have to live with for years. Stewart won’t change them again until 2012.

Stephens said not too long ago he was projecting the district would be $2 million in the black when 2012 rolled around, now he expects the district to be $3.6 million in the red at that time.

That will mean additional cuts for the school system, which has already shed jobs and shuttered buildings to keep costs down, he said.

“You either increase revenue or decrease costs and 85 percent of our costs are personnel,” Stephens said.

Municipal governments also will suffer from the reduced property values, according to Stewart’s figures.

Most hard-hit will be Lorain, which is already running a $1.5 million deficit and struggling to pays its bills. Stewart estimates the city will see about $334,000 less in funding from property taxes next year.

“Another $300,000 when you’re already a couple million in the hole doesn’t help,” said Lorain City Auditor Ron Mantini. “It all adds up.”

Lorain receives about $3.8 million from property taxes, about $2.5 million of which goes to the general fund. The rest goes to the city’s bond fund and police and fire pensions, Mantini said.

Elyria takes in about $3.5 million from property taxes annually, said City Auditor Ted Pileski. About $1.4 million of that money goes to the city’s general fund, which can ill-afford another hit.

Stewart estimates Elyria will lose about $218,000 next year and Pileski said that means about $88,300 less will go into the general fund of a city already discussing another round of layoffs if voters reject an income tax increase.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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