“Once again we find ourselves in an unprecedented situation,” Keith said, noting that this is the longest its taken his office to reach an agreement with the department.
The 15% increase in residential property value does not mean a owner’s taxes will go up 15%, he added. Some homeowners could see an increase or even decrease in taxes.
“It really won’t be clear to people until tax bills go out in January,” Keith said. “We’ll be prepared to deal with people when that happens. There is an appeal process between January and March every year and we’ll help them navigate that process.”
On July 9, Keith said his office submitted his proposal to the state department of taxation. On Aug. 31, he was notified that the department accepted the 6% increase for commercial property, but rejected the 7.4% increase for residential.
The state told the auditor they expected a residential increase of 18%, Keith said.
“We felt an 18% increase was out of line based on the work my team had performed reviewing properties in the field and analyzing real estate sales,” he said. “We thought the values we submitted in July were in keeping with past practices and well within industry standards.”
Because of the wide gap in what the county and state proposed, the auditor’s office went back to look at how the state reached their number.
The auditor’s office looked at the last three years in sale when coming up with their proposal. It’s the same method they have used in the past and is the standard practice, Keith said.
“We expected the department of taxation to use this approach in reviewing our results,” he said. “However, this year, the state focused only on the most recent year of sales, resulting in a more aggressive approach in establishing values.”
Keith noted Montgomery County is not the only area that struggled to determine values this year.
“Including Montgomery, there are 41 counties in Ohio that are scheduled to complete either a revaluation or a triennial update in 2020,” he said. “At least 25 counties ... have indicated that the state rejected their initial submission of updated values.”
The 15% residential increase in Montgomery County is comparable to other areas in the region, Keith said.
Preble County is reporting a 17.5% increase, with Darke County a 16% increase and Greene County a 15% increase.
“This experience I believe has exposed what I believe are weaknesses in which the manner in which property values are determined in Ohio,” Keith said. “Moving forward there are issues with transparency, consistency and uniformity to consider and address.”
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