Montgomery County sees fewest property value appeals since 2006

On Apr 29, 2022

There were so many appeals last year, which followed a countywide reappraisal, that the auditor had to seat a second board to hear them all.

Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith holds up the forms residents must fill out to apply for the homestead exemption program. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

Real estate prices have been rising, especially home prices, which have been pushed up by a tight supply and high demand.

The median home price in the Dayton region was $189,500 in March, which was up more than 8% from a year earlier, according to Dayton Realtors.

In past years, property owners typically filed the majority of appeals, hoping to lower their values, thereby reducing the amount of taxes they owe, the auditor said.

But this year, only about one-third of appeals were filed by owners, while the rest were filed by school districts, the auditor said. School districts are the largest recipients of property taxes in most local communities.

Property value appeals by year for the Montgomery County Board of Revision. CONTRIBUTED

Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed legislation into law that will severely restrict the ability of school boards and other subdivisions to file property tax complaints against properties they do not own, starting next year.

Keith said if the new law were already in effect, it would have blocked 723 of the 828 board of revision appeals that school districts in the county filed this year.

Ohio House Bill 126 will prohibit school districts from filing appeals on the value of properties in their jurisdictions unless the property was sold for a price at least $500,000 and 10% more than the value assessed by the county auditor, Keith’s office said.

Dayton Realtors data for March 2022. CONTRIBUTED

Keith praised provisions of the legislation that he says will make the process more transparent, but he said the rules are overly restrictive since school districts’ appeals help keep property values up to date.

Since 1976, Ohio law has allowed school districts to file complaints with county boards of revision when they believed that properties in their jurisdictions were undervalued, says a post by Peter Zawadski, a partner with law firm Walter | Haverfield, which has offices in Cleveland, Columbus and Mayfield Heights.

The law also gave school districts opportunities to challenge attempts by property owners to lower their property values, Zawadski said.

School districts are no longer automatically notified by the county of complaints filed by property owners, he said, and school boards must pass resolutions for each parcel they challenge the value of and issue notice to the owner’s tax address and mailing address.