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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > December > 18 > Entry
Could taxable property values finally be correct?
A follow-up story with more details about the Butler County auditor’s off-year property value re-appraisal:
Middletown property owner George Kiniyalocts says on Thursday morning, Dec. 17, he got a call from a man trying to sell him a house on Auburn Street for $25,000.
He looked on the Butler County Auditor’s Office Web site, he said, and it was appraised for tax purposes at more than $50,000.
Kiniyalocts applauds the county auditor for taking the unusual step of appraising taxable property values in an off year — an effort Auditor Roger Reynolds announced was done this week.
This will save a lot of people money — especially those who didn’t have the know-how to contest their appraisal — Kiniyalocts said.
The reappraisal was sent to the state for tax calculation Thursday. It includes a 4.7 percent average property value drop countywide, including an 8.5 percent average drop in Middletown and 4.9 percent drop in Hamilton.
“I was pleased they buckled down and took the steps to try to make it right, but it’s awful hard to make it right in Middletown,” Kiniyalocts said. “I know that they’re trying to do the right thing and the right thing is probably going to cost them some money, so you got to give them credit for that.”
Reynolds said the new values will go out to the 80,000 homes affected by the reappraisal by the end of the month. They also will be reflected on tax bills set to go out in early February.
Like with any appraisal, property owners will have until the end of March to appeal the valuation.
But between last year’s state-mandated appraisal — which Reynolds said was flawed because property values were still in free-fall — this year’s voluntary reappraisal and the 4,800 appeals the county handled this year, Reynolds thinks the numbers are finally right.
“I feel comfortable with where we are on the numbers currently on the books,” he said. “I’m hopeful the economy recovers and we start seeing a little more equity in their homes.”
The next re-evaluation is scheduled for 2011, and Reynolds believes the work he did this year could bring the price of that process down 90 percent.
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