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    What You Need to Know About the New Home Value Assessments, Including How to Challenge Them

    The Franklin County Auditor’s property value update process is showing a 20 percent increase in home values from 2017 through the end of 2019.

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    That number reflects a housing market that has seen steady growth and rising prices across a wide range of Central Ohio neighborhoods, although officials at the auditor’s office are stressing two points:

    • A 20 percent increase in overall values does not mean that everyone’s property taxes will go up by 20 percent (it’s more complicated than that).
    • The assessments that have been mailed out to individual homeowners (also available online) provide a “tentative value,” and can be challenged. The final values will be set in December, after the challenge process is complete.

    Property owners unhappy with their assessment are encouraged to schedule an “informal value review” – a meeting with an appraiser from the auditor’s office that can be held virtually or in-person. Virtual hearings are encouraged, and can be scheduled here.

    “The whole point of the process is for our office to work with you, the property owner, to determine what the appropriate value is,” said Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano, during a recent online chat about this year’s Triennial Update. “Property owners play an important role in this process”

    He explained that homeowners can submit documentation online, in advance of the meeting, “to share with us why you think the value should be a certain amount.”

    Information or documents provided by property owners could be other comps (recent sale price of nearby houses), private appraisals that have been done on the property, or updates about the condition of the house or improvements made to it.

    Stinziano also stressed that the final determination of the property’s value will not be given at the meeting – a letter containing a final value notification will be mailed to property owners in December.

    If property owners are not happy with that value, they can appeal to the Board of Revision, a process that will take place next spring.

    The tax impact of the valuation is based on many factors including what specific tax district a property is in, new levies that may be applied (like the Columbus State bond issue that passed in April), and a 1976 state law that limits how much property taxes can go up due to increasing property values.

    For more information, visit the Know Your Home Value campaign website at your2020homevalue.org, email [email protected] or call 614-525-HOME.

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    Brent Warren
    Brent Warrenhttps://columbusunderground.com/author/brent-warren
    Brent Warren is a staff reporter for Columbus Underground covering urban development, transportation, city planning, neighborhoods, and other related topics. He grew up in Grandview Heights, lives in the University District and studied City and Regional Planning at OSU.
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