Wednesday, March 25, 2009
All 166,000 parcels in Mahoning County will be reappraised for property tax revisions.
YOUNGSTOWN — Someone will soon be looking at your house to see what it’s worth.
The two-year process of reappraising all 166,000 parcels of Mahoning County real estate is beginning this spring.
State law requires that this comprehensive reappraisal be performed every six years.
Any changes in real estate taxes based on the reappraisal would be reflected beginning with the first-half tax bills to be sent out in February 2012, said Michael V. Sciortino, county auditor.
On Tuesday, the county commissioners made a $1,390,357 addition to the county auditor’s real estate assessment fund for professional services.
That money is going toward the $2,152,000 cost of the reappraisal being done by the Niles-based Integrity Appraisal Services Inc., which will soon open an Austintown office. The state-registered appraisal firm, founded in 1991, will view each property and update its characteristics.
Aerial and ground photography are being used as tools in the reappraisal process, and the appraisers will display identification, said Carol McFall, chief deputy auditor.
“We tell the residents, if they see somebody taking pictures of their house, not to get concerned because that’s just a normal part of the process,” McFall said.
Doug Constance, Integrity’s vice president for residential appraisals, said photographers engaged by his company will take pictures of land and buildings from the road or street and won’t enter onto the land.
The company’s appraisers will enter onto parcels of land, knock on doors, present identification and state their business, but they won’t enter a structure unless they’re invited inside by the owner, he said.
Criteria used to determine real estate values will include the value of any new construction, the age and condition of buildings, the condition of the surrounding neighborhood and recent sale prices for similar properties in the same neighborhood, McFall said.
State law and the courts have determined that “fair market value is the gauge each county should use when valuing property,’’ Sciortino said.
“The fair market value is the most probable price each property would sell for in an open market between a willing seller and a willing buyer, neither of which is under duress to buy or sell,” he explained.
Excluded from consideration are auctions, sheriff’s sales, sales from banks following sheriff’s sales, sales to relatives and sales that are “dramatically above or below the price at which the property should sell,” he added.
The county auditor’s office is responsible for determining the value of a property, but tax millages for local schools and governments vary widely among local communities depending on tax levies approved by local voters, McFall explained.
“We don’t set the tax. We just set the value,” McFall said of her office.
Once the reappraisal is completed in 2011, but before final property values are set, Sciortino said his office will make representatives available at Southern Park Mall for informal individual consultations with taxpayers concerning the effect of the reappraisal on the value of their properties. There, they’ll discuss the rationales for any changes in valuation and correct any errors in the property description.
Taxpayers who disagree with conclusions from the reassessment concerning their properties may appeal to the county’s Board of Revision between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2012, Sciortino said. That board consists of the county auditor and treasurer and one of the three county commissioners, or a representative of the commissioners.
Appeal forms will be available in the county auditor’s office, Sciortino said.
milliken@vindy.com