Mahoning County property owners now have a better idea where the money goes as they write out a check to pay property taxes.

County Auditor Ralph Meacham announced on Wednesday that during tax years 2015 to 2017 the vast majority of the revenue went to school districts.

Recipients are divided into five categories. In 2018 the total distribution of more than $247 million by category were:

61% went to school districts $150,120,286

13% went to townships $32,259,836

3% went to municipalities $6,394,542

4% went to special Districts $10,068,055

19% went to Mahoning Co. $48,168,736

Taxes assessed in 2017 were paid in 2018; therefore, the distributions provided were paid in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The numbers provided represent only distributions from property tax receipts. Each entity has other sources of funding.

"Property taxes represent a growing percentage of most taxpayers' budgets. As they pay their current tax bills, all should be aware of where their money is going," said Meacham.

The distributions schedules are available on the County Auditor 's Transparency website which can be found by going to the Auditor's web page on the Mahoning County Communicator website.