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All Mahoning County real estate is being reappraised
YOUNGSTOWN
The once-every-six-years reappraisal of all 166,000 Mahoning County land parcels is once again underway.
The rules for the state-mandated re-valuation haven’t changed.
Advanced technology, however, now allows the two sport utility vehicles that photograph buildings to take pictures at normal driving speeds, without having to slow down or stop in front of each building.
“It’s more advanced in the way it takes the pictures. It’s a better resolution, so they get a better picture, too,” said Robert Rimedio, chief appraiser in the county auditor’s office.
The county is paying Integrity Appraisal Services Inc. of Austintown $2,340,000 to conduct this reappraisal.
Integrity has hired Facet Technology Corp. of Minnesota to photograph all of the county’s homes and buildings “to ensure as much accuracy as possible in regard to placing a market value on a property,” said county Auditor Ralph T. Meacham.
“The pictures will assist Integrity in verifying the type of building, the building materials used, as well as the condition of the building,” Meacham said.
The two SUVs began the five-to-six-week process of taking photos in late April, said Steve Raffa, Integrity’s Mahoning County project manager.
Facet’s photos will be taken only from public highways, but appraisers carrying official identification may enter onto and take photos on private property and knock on doors, Raffa said.
They won’t enter a building, however, unless its owner invites them inside, he said.
Integrity appraisers likely will be in the field by June to check on the condition of buildings, with the field work continuing until March 2017, Raffa said.
The reappraisal process also is using aerial photography as it did six years ago, he added.
To assist in assigning market values to properties, Integrity will consider sale prices for similar residential properties occurring in the same neighborhood during 2014, 2015 and 2016, said Rick Barrett, an Integrity appraiser.
“We look into the past. We don’t look into the future. ... A reappraisal is always looking at a rearview mirror,” Raffa said.
After tentative values are posted on the auditor’s website, www.mahoningcountyauditor.org, in the fall of 2017, Meacham said real-estate owners will be able to meet individually and face-to-face with appraisers late in 2017 and early in 2018.
In those meetings, appraisers will explain how the new values were calculated and can correct any errors in the property descriptions.
Any changes in real-estate taxes based on the reappraisal will be reflected in the first half tax bills to be issued early in 2018, Rimedio said.
Trumbull County’s reappraisal is on the same schedule as Mahoning’s.
However, Columbiana County’s reappraisal is running one year ahead, with any tax changes based on the reappraisal there to be reflected in first-half tax bills to be issued early in 2017.