Two million dollar land sales recorded in Lawrence County last month will not affect the county’s tax revenue.

Wednesday, May 17, 2000

Two million dollar land sales recorded in Lawrence County last month will not affect the county’s tax revenue.

"It will generate a little extra as far as the conveyance tax is concerned but property tax revenue stays the same," county deputy auditor Chris Kline said.

The conveyance tax – $4 for every $1,000 in property sales receipts – is applied when property transfers are recorded.

In mid-April, two pieces of property sold for a total of $2.7 million.

ERSHCO LLC of Henderson, Ky., bought the Big Lots shopping center property for $1 million from Wheel of Ironton Center LLC, in care of Levites Realty Co., Bronx, N.Y., according to property transfer records.

And, EZ Storage VIII Limited Partnership, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, bought Scott Hutchison Enterprises’ storage center property in Coal Grove, Chesapeake and Fayette and Rome townships for a total of $1,707,485, according to auditor’s office records.

The sales were two of the biggest transactions the county had seen in quite some time, county auditor Ray Dutey said.

"It’s not often these amounts of sales happen in Lawrence County," Dutey said.

Dutey added he had heard no plans from ERSHCO about changing anything at the Big Lots shopping center.

Apparently, the deal was for property ownership only, he said.

ERSHCO or Wheel of Ironton Center could not be reached for comment.

The conveyance taxes associated with both sales totaled about $10,800 to the county, but is not an "overall extra" for that budget, he said.

The county plans on a number of such high-yield conveyances each year, so the conveyance tax collected goes into the overall fund, Kline said.

"We plan on it, so it probably won’t make that big of a deal at the end of the year," he said.

The sales will not change the amount of property taxes collected on the properties, so that means no windfalls for any government agencies, Dutey said.

Revenues from real estate taxes enacted by governments or public agencies are paid by the landowner each year, no matter who that landowner is, he said.