If you live Akron or elsewhere in Summit County Ohio, you could be waiting a long time for your property tax assessment hearing before the state board.
That’s because at the moment, the State of Ohio is swamped with property tax appeals.
Counties across the country are experiencing an increase in appeals for a number of reasons including:
• Assessed values aren’t being reduced as fast as market values during the current recession.
• Counties continue to increase tax rates. As a result, property tax bills stay flat or even increase while the assessed value drops. Puzzled homeowners have little choice but to appeal their assessments.
The State of Ohio is no exception to this trend as it wrestles with more than 6,100 active cases on appeal – a 72 percent increase from the prior year.
The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals is the preferred method that many Summit County residents use for appealing their assessment. That’s because there is no fee to appeal using this method and residents can avoid the costs of hiring an attorney to appeal the assessed value through the court system.
But at the moment, Summit County residents are frustrated with the huge backlog in the state appeal process as residents in this county alone make up more than 800 pending cases.
The state board is behind on the hearings not just because a record number of appeals have been filed. State budget cuts have forced the board to lay off employees – only three employees presently hear appeals filed from across the State of Ohio.
One Summit County resident is appealing a jump in her home value from $287,720 to $320,610 – an increase that doesn’t make sense in a plummeting housing market. She has become so frustrated with the appeal delays that by the time her case is heard, it might be time for her to re-appeal to the Summit County board of revision.
The delays are also frustrating Ohio school districts and local governments that have no way of covering lost property tax revenue while these cases are under appeal.
If you live in Akron or elsewhere in Summit County, don’t go in front of the state board without having your act together. It is going to take a long time to have your case heard. Don’t make the situation worse by being unprepared. Use ValueAppeal to appeal your Summit County property tax assessment.
