County offers CAUV appraisal seminar

Van Wert independent

Van Wert County Auditor Nancy Dixon is mailing out reappraisal values this week, something farmers have likely been dreading for some time, since they’re the ones likely hardest hit by the new appraisal numbers.

Farms are appraised under the Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) and the Market Agriculture programs. According to Dixon, the state sets valuation on CAUV land per soil type, which she added has “risen dramatically” this year.

CAUV has been around since 1974, when the Ohio General Assembly passed a law implementing a constitutional amendment to “allow land devoted exclusively to agricultural use to be valued for taxation as its current value for such use.”

That basically means that the owners of agricultural land can opt to have their land taxed on its productive capabilities, rather than its fair market value. Normally, that means significantly lower real property taxes over a fair market value appraisal.

That doesn’t mean farmers aren’t concerned about the possibility of tax increases this past year, which are mostly due to increased crop prices and lower interest rates for farm loans, leading to a rise in agricultural income and farm values.

Home sites and non-agricultural land on a farm are still taxed at their fair market value, which, with residential property values down significantly, should decrease.

Whether the higher agricultural values will mean an increase in property taxes won’t be known until owners of agricultural land receive tax bills in December.

To help those owning agricultural property better understand the process and the current CAUV situation, the Farm Bureau, Appraisal Research and the County Auditor’s Office will host a program at 6:30 p.m. Monday, November 21, in the Lincolnview Local Schools cafeteria.