Property values in area average 10.35% increase
An appraiser said the revaluation would not increase most people's property taxes by much.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Though the average increase in property valuations was 10.35 percent across Trumbull County in the recent revaluation, that translates into much less than a 10 percent increase in property taxes, the Trumbull County Auditor's office says.
Bill Nicholas, the office's chief appraiser, gives the following example: A house in the county that rises in value from $90,000 to $100,000 will pay increased taxes on just 35 percent of the increase -- or $3,500 -- and only on the first 10 mills, not the entire millage on a property.
So multiplying the $3,500 example by 10 mills gives the property owner an increase in property taxes of $35 per year, minus a state rollback of 10 percent on all properties and an additional 2.5 percent on all residences.
In the end, the increase in property taxes would only be $30.62 per year for the example given, Nicholas said.
"I'm not anticipating a real big boost in people's real property taxes," Nicholas said.
Impact on other properties
A bigger increase will be hitting commercial and industrial properties in the county, he said. Commercial properties will be rising in valuation about 11.8 percent, and industrial properties are seeing an increase of about 22 percent.
At the same time, the state removed a 10 percent rollback on commercial property taxes this year in its budget bill. This year will be the last year for the rollback, so next year's commercial property tax bill will be higher because of that, he said. Valuations for all types of properties are based on recent sales activity, Nicholas said. The highest increase was for agricultural land -- an increase of about 32 percent countywide.
But Nicholas said that doesn't hurt most farmers much, because most of them participate in a federal agricultural program that eliminates the reappraisal from raising the taxes on their farm land.
For an average piece of agricultural land, only the value of the house, outbuildings and one acre of land are affected by the increased valuation, he said.
Those farms not participating in the federal program, however, would be likely to experience a spike in their taxes, he said.
Largest increases
The larger agricultural property increases were in areas such as Mesopotamia, which saw increases as high as 64 percent; Farmington, 50 percent; Bloomfield, 44 percent; Gustavus and Lordstown, 45 percent; Bazetta and Greene, 42 percent; Newton, 41 percent; and Southington, 36 percent. Most of the others were lower.
Some of the areas in the county that saw large increases in agricultural valuations also saw the biggest increases in residential values, such as Mesopotamia, 25 percent; Bloomfield, 20 percent; Gustavus, 16 percent; and Newton, 14 percent.
A real estate appraiser who works in those areas regularly, Fred Estlack of Bazetta Township, said areas close to the U.S. "Route 422 Corridor" in Northwest Trumbull County are growing in value because of the desire of people working in the Cleveland area to buy land near the highway.
Commuting from that area became easier when the state widened and improved U.S. Route 422 between Trumbull County and Cleveland some years ago.
Slower growing areas were some areas of Girard, 5 percent; Vienna, 5.7 percent; Fowler, 7 percent; Hartford, 7.2 percent; Warren City, 7.9 percent; and Hubbard City, 8.5 percent.
Procedure
Each individual property has its own specific increase or drop in value, and letters will be going out to property owners in the coming months indicating the specific increase in valuation, Auditor Dave Hines said.
After that, property owners get a specified amount of time to request a hearing to ask for a reconsideration of the values, he said.
Hines said his office received word on Monday that the reappraisal process had been completed and the most recent numbers were accurate ones. He said the only thing that remains is to get a letter from the Ohio Department of Taxation confirming this, Hines said.
"We feel confident that this is what they will accept, but nothing is official yet," Hines explained.
Hines said the current percentages are down from the initial numbers turned in to the state more than a month ago. Hines has been working to get the numbers reduced to lower the amount county taxpayers owe, he said.
Nicholas noted that the 10.35 percent average increase across the county is similar to the amount of increase seen for the last revaluation done three years ago. Both revaluations translated into a little over 3 percent increases per year, he said.