PREPARING THE PUBLIC FOR A REVALUATION: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. WHAT IS A REVALUATION?
A revaluation is an update of all assessments in the County conducted under the direction of the local assessor. The assessor is the County Auditor who may contract with a state-certified company whose duties are to discover, list, and value all taxable real and personal property in the County, in a uniform and equitable manner. The assessor is not involved in the collection of property taxes.

2. WHY IS A REVALUATION NECESSARY?
State law requires that all property in a County be assessed within 10 percent of market value at least once every SIX years. A revaluation is the most equitable way to accomplish this.

3. WILL ALL PROPERTY VALUES CHANGE?
Most likely, yes. However, not all property values will change at the same rate. Market value will have increased more for some neighborhoods and property types than for others. Some neighborhoods and property types may have decreased in value and others may have remained the same. One purpose of a revaluation is to make sure that the assessed values reflect the changes that have occurred in property sales and value indexing.

4. WHO WILL DO THE REVALUATION?
The County has hired the firm of Cole-Layer-Trumble Company. This firm has had many years of experience in revaluation work and has performed revaluations for many other counties. The County received proposals from a number of firms and believes the Cole-Layer-Trumble firm will do the best job.

5. WHEN WILL THE REVALUATION START?
The revaluation will begin on January 1, 2006 and we expect to complete the work by January 1, 2008. The resulting values will be effective as of January 1, 2008. These assessments will be the basis for the tax bill which will be mailed in December 2008 or January 2009 for tax year 2008.

6. IS IT NECESSARY TO VIEW THE INSIDE OF MY PROPERTY?
To make a proper assessment on a building, it is desirable that an assessor see the inside as well as the outside of the property.
The law requires that property be valued from an actual view or the best information available. We do not have records on the physical characteristics of each property in the County. If we are unable to enter your property, we will still review your assessment based on the existing records and sales of properties similar to yours.

7. WHAT IF I REFUSE TO LET ASSESSMENT PERSONNEL IN MY PROPERTY?
To ensure an accurate assessment, it is to your advantage to allow the assessor inside your property when an inspection is requested. By denying an inspection, you may be paying more taxes. The proof of value is then upon the owner of the property.

8. YOU MENTION MARKET VALUE. WHAT IS IT?
State law requires your property be assessed at market value. Market value is defined as the amount a typical, well-informed purchaser would be willing to pay for a property. For a sale to be a market value (arm’s-length) sale, the seller and buyer must be unrelated, the seller must be willing (but not under pressure) to buy, the property must be on the market for a reasonable length of time, the payment must be in cash or its equivalent, and the financing must be typical for that type of property.

9. WHAT IF THERE HASN’T BEEN A RECENT ARM’S-LENGTH SALE OF MY PROPERTY?
The next best evidence is the arm’s-length sales of reasonably comparable properties. These are properties similar to yours in location, age, style, condition, and other features that affect market value, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and size of garage.

10. WHAT IF THERE ARE NO REASONABLY COMPARABLE SALES?
We will then consider all other factors that may affect the market value of your property. The cost to replace your building(s), less any depreciation, plus the value of the land could also be used to estimate market value. For rental properties, the income and expenses will be considered.

11. I HAVE RECENTLY BUILT MY HOME. WILL THE ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION COSTS BE CONSIDERED?
Your construction cost is a historical figure that may or may not reflect the current market value of your property. It is only one element that will be considered.

12. WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY ASSESSMENT IF I IMPROVE MY PROPERTY?
Generally speaking, improvements that increase the market value of a property will increase the assessment. The following examples are typical items that may increase the assessed value of your property.

• added rooms or garage

• aluminum or vinyl siding

• substantial modernization of kitchen or baths

• central air-conditioning

• fireplaces

• extensive remodeling

13. WILL MY ASSESSMENT GO UP IF I REPAIR MY PROPERTY?
Normal maintenance will help retain the market value of your property, but generally will not affect your assessment.

14. HOW CAN MY ASSESSMENT CHANGE WHEN I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING TO MY PROPERTY?
General economic conditions such as interest rates, inflation rates, and changes in the tax laws will influence the value of real estate. As property values change in the marketplace, those changes must be reflected on the assessment roll.

15. DO ALL ASSESSMENTS CHANGE AT THE SAME RATE?
There are differences between individual properties and between neighborhoods. In one area, the sales may indicate a substantial increase in value in a given year. In another neighborhood, there may be no change.
Different types of properties within the same neighborhood may also show different values changes. For example, one-story houses may be more in demand than two-story houses or vice versa. Older homes in the same area may be rising in value more slowly than newer homes.
Among the numerous factors to be considered that will cause values to differ are location, condition, size, quality, number of baths, basement finish, garages, and many others.

16. WILL THE PERSON WHO INSPECTS MY PROPERTY BE ABLE TO TELL ME MY NEW ASSESSMENT?
No. After the inspection of your property, we have to analyze all of the information we gathered before placing a value on your property. We will then further review this information to ensure that your assessment corresponds fairly to the assessments of other properties.

17. WILL I BE NOTIFIED IF THERE IS A CHANGE IN MY ASSESSMENT?
Ohio Law requires that whenever an appraisal is completed and advertisement of completions are ready for the owner to inspect, a notification will be mailed to the owner.

18. WHAT IF I DON’T AGREE WITH MY ASSESSMENT?
Talk with the assessor. During this informal session you can learn how your assessment was made, what factors were considered, and what type of records we have on your property.

19. WHAT IF, AFTER THIS INFORMAL TALK WITH THE ASSESSOR, I STILL DISAGREE WITH THE ASSESSMENT?
You should arrange to appear at the board of review. The County clerk will provide you with a time for your informal review. If you are not satisfied, you will then be given a formal schedule for a hearing at the board of review after the closing of collection on the first half -- normally in May of the next year.
The board of review operates like a court, but is not as formal. It can hear only sworn oral testimony and will hear testimony from you or your representative and from the assessor.

20. WHAT EVIDENCE DO I NEED TO PRESENT TO THE BOARD OF REVIEW?
State law puts the burden of proof on the property owner to show that the assessment is incorrect. Keep in mind that your evidence must be strong enough to prove that the assessor’s value is incorrect.
Only relevant testimony given at the hearing will be considered by the board. Stating that property taxes are too high is not relevant testimony. You should establish in your mind what you think your property is worth.
The best evidence of this would be a recent sale price of your property. The next best evidence would be recent sales prices of properties that are similar to yours. The closer in proximity and similarity, the better the evidence.
Another type of evidence is oral testimony from a witness who has made a recent appraisal of your property.

21. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE BOARD OF REVIEW MAKES ITS DECISION?
The board will either give or mail you a notice of its decision. If you are not happy with the board’s determination, the notice will contain information on how you may appeal the board’s decision.

22. HOW WILL MY TAXES CHANGE AS A RESULT OF THE NEW ASSESSMENT?
Although the value of your property affects your share of taxes, the actual amount you pay is determined by the budget needs of the schools, municipalities, county, townships and other taxing entities.
All of these taxing units decide what services they will provide in the coming year and how much money they will need to provide these services. Once this decision is made, a tax rate is adopted that will generate the needed dollars.
Your property taxes are then determined by multiplying the tax rate by your assessment.
Tax rate x assessed value = taxes

23. HOW DO I FIND CURRENT INFORMATION ABOUT MY PROPERTY?

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