Signing Locations

Property Valuations

Every year across Ohio some counties undergo a review in property value to adjust the tax to be collected based on the new property valuation. In theory these valuations are driven by changes in the real estate market. There are two types of review, reappraisal and update.

This process is called both a triennial update and a sexennial reappraisal. Triennial update because every three years your property taxes are reviewed and updated, often increased. Sexennial reappraisal because every county is required to appraise property values and improvements based on market values, every six years.

Re-Appraisal verse Update

Where the REAPPRAISAL process appraises every property, the UPDATE process is a simplified update the value based on market trends. If these descriptions sound vague, they are. The process is unique to every county and under the direction and control of the county Auditor. Yet, there is more to the story.

Appraisal

If you purchase a home and intend to get a mortgage, the bank will do a full market appraisal which will cost you between $500 and $1500 based on the location and appraiser.

For a county with thousands of properties to appraise, this type of detailed appraisal is impossible. Therefore, county auditors develop unique ways to accomplish this huge, and costly, undertaking every three years.

Updates

Three years after a county-wide reappraisal, the county Auditor must update the values based on market trends or local needs. This process is less precise and more vague, but they have to do it so they do. When the update is complete, your property taxes generally go up.

The Map

In the above image you can see the evaluation schedule appears random and disorganized. I assumed it was based on a balanced number of people, or at least voters. What I found was very curious.

In 2024 a moderate 33 percent of voters are impacted, but in 2025 a paltry 12 percent, and in 2026 a whopping 55 percent. Ohio has been collecting property taxes for over two hundred years, and they started when it was still just a territory. The evaluations set the property tax values for the next three years, collected after the fact. Therefore, a 2024 evaluation will start being collected in 2025 and so on.

The Law

This challenged me to consider the people responsible for this process, the legislature, the county auditor and county treasurer. The county officials cannot set when their county is reviewed, this decision happens in Columbus and has followed the same cycle for decades. Columbus could do something but…

Politicians prefer to be reelected. Therefore, they want to control how many are aggravated at the same time and this current system allows for the least amount of distress spread across the most amount of space.  Before you blame the current legislators remember this process has been in place for well over two hundred years.

Here is a good 6 page brief on the property tax process

It is complex, complicated and costly, but it is what we know so it is uncomfortable to consider the changes that will take place when we stop using homes and land as a way to tax you into homelessness.

Signing Locations

For information about your county and to find local Signing Locations. Click your county below and see organizations, businesses, and people who are suporting the Aboilition of Taxes on Real Property amendment. Additionally find links to your county website, county auditor, population and basic demographics as well as CUPP data over the years.