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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > September > 14 > Entry
A horse tale
Being the political season, we get numerous calls about candidates for various offices and why they’re unfit to be elected. Sometimes this leads to an investigation. Often, they don’t pan out. This is one of those stories.
First, it started with a tip. In this case, someone referred me to this conservative blog that hints that Jack Zettler, Democratic candidate for Butler County auditor, may be cheating on his taxes.
The blog correctly asserts that Zettler’s 32-acre farm in Hamilton has an agricultural tax exemption though it’s mostly a wooded lot. This, and some innuendo.
So I put in a request for all public records pertaining to the valuation of Zettler’s property. Those records are below.
What I learned: former auditor Kay Rogers had questioned Zettler on the use of his property. An investigation ensued that included an estimate of how much Zettler’s exemption saved him in property taxes.
But Rogers dropped the case when Zettler said in October that there are horses on the property who use the area as pasture. He breeds these horses for money.
So I call Roger Reynolds, who took over as auditor when Rogers resigned amid scandal. He had no intention of by picking up Rogers’ investigation, saying he had his hands fill with the ongoing property value appraisal. Said he:
“I have heard a little bit of what you’re talking about but my focus has been the re-evaluation and at this point. That is going to be my focus.”
When pressed:
“I’ve heard the inquiries. I’m not interested. I don’t have the time to get into it.” “I’m working on the re-evaluation. That’s the focus of not only myself but everyone in my office.”
So he didn’t want to get his hands dirty. I then called Larry Gearhardt, director of Local Affairs at the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. He’s an expert on agricultural exemptions. He said the exemption is harder to determine with equestrian activities than with crops. People have horses for fun; they don’t grow corn as a hobby.
But here’s the essence:
“If the land is devoted to a commercial agricultural use, than it can qualify for the (agricultural) program. People buy and sell horses all the time but that’s not necessarily enough to make it commercial.”
So is Zettler a professional or an amateur? I asked him.
He said he has one stud on the property and three mares. The stud is a prize-winner that he hires professionals to train and show for him. Said he:
“If this stud horse does what we want it to do, I’ll make more money off this stud horse than I ever would practicing law.”
He said the horses go into the woods to stay out of the sun and graze on hot days when unshaded grass dies. “If I had that cleared I’d only be able to feed them part of the time.”
This is why Rogers dropped it, he said. “She realized that she was going to look like a fool if she raised it because it was a proper use.”
And seeing as no one contested Zettler’s valuation, that’s where we left it as well.
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