Property tax 2017 reappraisals

[Kevin Noesner]

Franklin county reassessment and reappraisals have hit transitional areas like Merion Village and Olde Towne East pretty hard. Anyone who has BRRR will see that their values have increased significantly. Are there any good tools to estimate the reassessed property taxes? My understanding of Ohio law (which is suspect at best) is that school levy millage must be reduced when the overall tax base increases. Therefore property taxes do not scale 1:1 with property values. It will just get redistributed based on updated values. This makes it impossible to estimate. Any good tools out there that could help?

[Oren K.]

Gentlemen,

Don't get bent out of shape just yet. Just because your valuation went up a scary amount does not mean that your taxes go up proportionally.

Firstly, if this is happening county wide, the mill rate will go down. To use a simplified example; if county wide, property values go up 100% (forget about multiple 100%), county residents will not tolerate the budgets of the county / city / school doubling. Rather the mill rate adjusts so the county / city / school receive the funds they need for the work they do.

Secondly, read up on bill 920 which smooths out dramatic increase (and yes decreases!) in valuation.

Thirdly, if for the past few years the property has been under taxed and you were the beneficiary, great but you should have been planning for this eventuality.

Finally, keep in mind that there are any number of legal firms that specialize in appealing tax increases. They work on a contingency basis (usually ~ 30% of first year savings) so there are no $ out of your pocket. Also because of the contingency fee, they are very honest regarding the likelihood and degree of success you can expect. If you need a referral, PM me.

Oren