Despite property value increases across the area, Union County officials said the number of appeals this year was lower than expected.
The Board of Revisions (BOR) hearings for residents appealing those values has concluded and Union County Auditor Andrea Weaver said several factors likely contributed to the lower number of appeals. One of those factors, she said, could be that residents simply recognize the “state of the market.”
“2023 was an active BOR season, but maybe not as active as we had expected given that the taxes paid this calendar year were reflecting the higher values of our 2022 triennial update,” she said.
Last year, residents around the county witnessed an increase of 23.89% to the value of residential parcels.
Once those values are known, residents have until the end of March to file an appeal disputing the number. If the matter is not settled, the BOR calls a hearing.
“The common theme we heard during hearings was that folks didn’t believe their home’s value was as high as the auditor’s value stated…until we showed them all of the valid, recent sales in their tax neighborhoods,” said Weaver. “After they could see what properties have been selling for, well, most understood and didn’t dispute their new value.”
Even though the numbers weren’t as high as anticipated, there were still delays in wrapping up this round of hearings, primarily due to scheduling issues, Weaver said.
She said that because of that, changes in procedure would likely come for those that file for next year.
“Ohio law requires that property owners are notified of their scheduled hearing by way of a certified letter. It seems folks simply don’t want to stop by the post office to pick up their certified letter,” Weaver said. “And it has been our policy to automatically reschedule a hearing for an owner who didn’t pick up their certified letter. There were so many this year that we have decided to simply not offer that ‘second chance’ going forward.”
She said for next year and beyond, residents will have to remember to pick up their certified letters and then attend their scheduled hearings.
“Keep in mind this is for a valuation complaint that the property owner filed. We are a small office and trying to accommodate not only the board’s schedule, but also that of the taxpayer has been an unwieldy challenge,” Weaver added. “Some property owners have utilized Zoom/Teams hearings, but most still prefer to come into the office for their hearing.”
When a property owner appeals, the burden of proof is on the resident to provide information to the contrary.
Treasurer Andrew Smarra, who sits on the BOR, said residents who want to appeal have to be aware of that March 31 date but should also know there are other options.
“If you didn’t appeal this year, you can still appeal,” he said. “Let’s say you file in 2024 before the March deadline – and remember 2024 is for ‘23 taxes and ‘24 taxes – you will get two years of that reduction, assuming it’s a reduction, so you can still appeal. You just can’t go backwards to the prior year.”
He said in some cases people aren’t appealing because they just don’t know the process or haven’t seen their taxes change in time to do it.
“My personal opinion is that, as the county has grown and the number of parcels have grown, the percentage of people that have mortgages that escrow their taxes has also grown,” Smarra said. “My assertion is that people don’t know. They’re paying their mortgage, which typically includes taxes and insurance, and by the time they found out, it’s too late.”
Weaver said she does expect next year’s number of appeals to go up, mainly due to school filings and the impact of House Bill 126, passed in 2022.
The bill significantly reduced the number of filings by school districts.
“Ohio law requires that for tax purposes, real estate is valued at ‘market value,’ and the best indicator of market value is a valid, recent sale. So it’s been pretty routine in Ohio for many school districts to file every year on those recent sales, largely, commercial/industrial properties, in the hopes of taking the taxable value to the property’s recent sale price,” said Weaver. “The new legislation has put a bit of delay on that with two new requirements – one of them is to permit filings only on those properties whose sales prices are at least $500,000 higher than the auditor’s current value. The other requirement is that schools cannot use, as their evidence, a sale that occurred in the calendar year of the filing, after the tax lien date.”
She added the second issue has been challenged to the Supreme Court and many Ohio counties are awaiting that decision.
A number of cases have been dismissed, she said, but will likely be filed next year.