Franklin County property owners who believe recent reappraised property values are wrong can ask the Franklin County's Auditor Office for a review over the next month.
Under Ohio law, the Franklin County Auditor reassesses property values every three years. The process gives property owners the opportunity to contest their updated tentative values through that review process. Property owners can view their home values on the Franklin County Auditor’s website.
Countywide, preliminary tentative values show residential properties rising by an average of about 10%.
Those tentative values also show that commercial properties increased by an average of about 4%, and industrial properties went up by an average of about 13%.
Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano emphasized that the current values are tentative.
“We're at a great time in Franklin County for every property owner to look at the auditor's tentative value,” Stinziano said. “Upon seeing the value, if they agree, think it's accurate, they don't need to do anything. If a property owner feels it's too high or too low, however, there's a couple months here where we want to hear and work with them about potential changes.”
The auditor’s office is hosting in-person property value review sessions for property owners to provide information that may affect the value or description of their property through September. Stinziano said values are capped at the auditor’s tentative value, so reviews would not increase values. Helpful documentation for meetings could include:
- Recent comparable property sales
- A recent professional appraisal
- Photos or documentation of the property's condition
- Information about incorrect property characteristics
- Estimates or records related to significant repairs
Stinziano explained that a change in value does not necessarily mean a change in property owners’ taxes, but is meant to represent a fair and accurate valuation.
“Your value can go up, taxes down. Your value could go down, your taxes up, but our role and what's important right now for the auditor's office is that we have a fair and equitable value and want to work with property owners to make sure we get to that,” Stinziano said.
The appointments last about 20 minutes.
Virtual meetings will be available until Sept. 4.
Final values are expected in December.
