Mahoning, Trumbull county property owners can challenge new values


By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

If you think your property’s newly established real-estate value is erroneous, a board of county officials will listen to your complaint.

Landowners in Mahoning and Trumbull counties who dispute the value the county recently assigned to their properties have until March 31 to file their notices of appeal at their county Board of Revision.

After completing the appeal form and signing it in the presence of a notary, the appealing property owners are encouraged to file with it any supporting documentation, said Robert Rimedio, chief appraiser in the Mahoning County auditor’s office.

The forms are available at the auditor’s office, and there is no filing fee.

Everyone who appeals is entitled to a hearing before the revision board, which consists of representatives of the county auditor’s, treasurer’s and commissioners’ offices.

“It’s an informal process, and we try to be fair and equitable with everyone that comes in,” Rimedio said.

Mahoning and Trumbull counties completed last fall their once-every-six-year comprehensive reappraisal of all real-estate parcels.

Any changes in taxes based on the reappraisal will first be reflected in first-half tax bills to be issued next month.

Columbiana County is on a different schedule. The next once-every-six-year reappraisal there will be completed in fall 2016, with revision board appeals stemming from it due in the first quarter of 2017, said Nancy Milliken, Columbiana County auditor.

Under the cloud of the national housing and economic crisis, countywide residential property values fell 7.4 percent in Mahoning County and 7.5 percent in Trumbull County in the full reappraisal completed last fall.

Some people file appeals seeking to lower their property values because they think lower values may result in lower taxes, while others seek a higher value because they think it will raise their property’s future selling price, Rimedio said.

Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino said, however, the issue before the revision board will be the property’s fair market value, not taxes.

To help property owners understand how appraisers arrived at new property valuations, the Mahoning County auditor’s office has scheduled a second series of free individual consultations between owners and appraisers in February and March at Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave. Appeals forms will be available there.

As in the first round of such consultations last fall, property owners will be able to discuss their newly assigned values, and how they were derived, with an appraiser from Integrity Appraisal Services Inc., which performed the reappraisal of all 166,000 Mahoning County parcels. No appointments are necessary for these sessions.

Commercial and industrial property owners, however, are asked to call the auditor’s office at 330-740-7909 for a consultation appointment.

In Trumbull County, property owners may call the auditor’s office at 330-675-2420 for an appointment to see an appraiser, or just walk into the auditor’s second-floor office at 160 High St. NW, Warren, said Bill Nicholas, chief appraiser there.

After they file their appeal forms, property owners will receive by certified mail a letter informing them of the date, time and place of their hearings.

“The burden of proof in this appeal process is on the complainant, so they want to bring in all their evidence,” Rimedio said.

Several types of evidence may be helpful to the appealing real estate owner at the hearing, including photographic or other evidence of improvements that might raise the property’s value, or of areas in disrepair that might lower its value, and professional estimates of repair costs.

The appealing property owner may employ a lawyer to represent him or her, but most don’t, Rimedio said.

Lawyers more commonly represent owners of commercial properties, where higher-dollar values and taxes are at stake and the issues are complex, Rimedio said.

“It’s more complex, because there are issues as far as the appraisal, hiring private appraisers, and also the amount of space that is actually rented versus the space that’s vacant,” said Atty. Matthew C. Giannini of Boardman, who has represented clients, primarily those owning commercial real estate, in revision board appeals.

“If you’re looking to reduce your taxes by a couple of hundred dollars a year, it’s not worth your while to hire counsel and an appraiser,” he said.

“If you’re looking to reduce them by a substantial amount over a period of seven years, then it would be worthwhile.”

The Mahoning County revision board considered 817 appeals after the county’s last full reappraisal six years ago, but there were only 182 such cases in Trumbull County, which has about 144,000 land parcels.

Even if they have an appeal pending before the board, Sciortino said real-estate owners must still timely pay their property taxes.

If the revision board rules in favor of the property owner, and lower taxes result, the county auditor will refund any overpayments of taxes, said Cheri Donofrio, director of taxation in the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office.

Those who are dissatisfied with a board ruling may appeal within 30 days, either to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals in Columbus, or to their county common pleas court.

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