Commissioners announce tax reduction

Todd Wolfrum/special to the VW independent

Editor’s note: Todd Wolfrum is the Chairman of the Van Wert County Commissioners.

Property taxes are a horrible thing. Of all the insidious duties a government ever placed on its people, the penalty for owning real estate stands out. The only escape – sell everything or die.

It gets even worse when the local tax collecting agency has no power over setting those taxes. Such is the situation where Van Wert County finds itself in 2024 as the mandated six-year tax revaluation hits. Pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code, adjustments for inflation have come due. We are doing what we can at the county level to alleviate some of the pain. More on that later.

Wondering why no one knocked on your door and looked around? I mean, that’s usually what happens when your house gets appraised – at least a walk through. That might be how the bank does it, but not the state. This company out of Findlay just kind of drives by and makes a guess. Sure, they look at comparable sales in the area and all the relevant factors, but that doesn’t make it not a guess.

Because it’s a guess, there is an appeal process. On the Van Wert County Auditor’s website is a link to the relevant form. Go to vanwertcounty.org, then to the Auditor’s site, then click on the link in the center of the page titled “Complaint against the Valuation of Real Property (DTE 1).” You have until March 31 to file this form at the County Auditor’s office on the second floor of the Courthouse. Your appeal will be heard by the Appeals Board, which includes the Auditor, Treasurer, and a Commissioner.

There’s no hard and fast on the appeal process and you can put just about any reason in the box requesting the valuation change. If you’re serious about it, an independent appraisal by someone qualified in our area will help, but beware, real estate value has skyrocketed in the last few years. You might be opening a box you don’t care to look into. Don’t bother with this process at all if it’s farmland as the county has no power to adjust those values – take it up with the brain trust at the state.

To understand this increase in taxes you first have to understand something called millage. One mill is one-thousandth of a dollar, so if your home is valued at $100,000, a mill of tax would collect $100, except that everything is valued at 35% so a mill actually collects $35. Further, there is a distinction between inside millage and outside millage. Outside millage is voted on and the tax to be collected is mostly a set amount at the time it is approved by the voters. This millage did not change with the revaluation of real estate and only changes through a vote or when there is new construction.

Inside millage was established in the Ohio Constitution. Most parcels in the county are burdened by 10 inside mills. The schools get a little over half of this, the county 24%, and the rest usually goes to the townships or incorporated areas.

This is where the increase hit your tax bill. Inside millage is a percentage so it fluctuates with property values and is not a set amount. Because of this, approximately $700,000 in extra revenue will accrue to the county general fund in 2024. For the schools, Lincolnview and Crestview will receive a windfall of approximately $750,000 and $850,000, respectively, while Van Wert City Schools will rake in close to $2 million in additional funds according to current estimates.

You can view where your taxes are distributed on the Van Wert County Auditor’s website. Go to vanwertcounty.org, then click on the Auditor’s tab. Go to the link near the bottom on the left that says “Real Estate Inquiry.” Type in a name or an address and you can find out about anyone’s taxes. There are even handy little pie charts if you don’t like numbers.

You’ll notice over half of your taxes go to your local school, but several other entities get a slice of that pie besides the government units. The ringleaders are Thomas Edison, the Brumback Library, the Council on Aging, Tri-County mental health, Vantage, and Ohio State Extension. There are special assessments for things like Recycling, Maumee Watershed, ditch maintenance, and a few villages have their own special assessments – Middle Point for sidewalks on Adams Street and Wren for streetlights. None of the entities or assessments in this paragraph have inside millage so none will receive an increase in revenue.

Here’s a little good news. The Board of County Commissioners has unanimously decided to eliminate its revenue increase from this revaluation. It is estimated that we will receive an additional $700,000 over last year, which amounts to around 0.7 mills for us. If the state doesn’t take any action on its own, we are going to reduce our 2.4 mills down to 1.7 as the county is currently in a sound financial position.

Our ability to reduce our millage is tied to our sales tax in the Ohio Revised Code. Before you start calling your local school or township to do the same, just know they cannot – it’s not allowed under existing law. We are also looking at a possible sales tax reduction by the end of the year but let’s see what shenanigans Washington D.C. has in store for this election cycle first.

(Special thanks to Nancy Dixon for explaining all of this to us in detail and helping us find this tax reduction method.)