MOUNT VERNON — According to the Ohio Department of Taxation, property taxes, which are not increasing next year in nearby counties as they are in Knox County, are the result of differing real estate markets throughout the state.
Many Knox County residents have asked why local property tax rates have not been “frozen” as they believe they have been in other counties, such as Franklin and Delaware. John Kohlstrand, ODT director of communications, said those whose state property tax rates have been “frozen” in other counties is not an accurate statement.
“There was never a freeze,” he said. “What [ODT] recommended was no aggregate increase is necessary in residential real estate values in those counties.
“Different counties are experiencing this differently,” Kohlstrand said. “Some counties are being hit harder in the real estate market than others.”
County property valuations, which help determine property taxes, are done in different six-year cycles for different counties.
Richland, Licking and Delaware counties are not having full reappraisals this year, but a triennial update, which is based strictly on actual home sale prices. The last update in Knox County was in 2005.
During every county’s triennial update, the state sends a letter to the county auditor giving recommendations for increases in property values based on the ratio determined by sale prices.
The Ohio Department of Taxation oversees the property tax reappraisal process under way in Knox and 12 other counties. According to Kohlstrand, the ODT and county auditors perform their own independent calculations of sale figures.
Knox County Auditor Margaret Ann Ruhl said the state serves as a check and balance system for county auditor’s valuations.
Kohlstrand said determining the ratio of appraised home values to actual home sale prices is done by dividing the sum of every residential sale price in the county and dividing it by the sum of every residential value as determined by the auditor’s office.
In Knox County, the current ratio is just over 90 percent. The ODT requires this ratio to be between 90 percent and 110 percent, which Kohlstrand said is a guideline published by the International Association of Assessing Offices.
In 2007, rising home values left this ratio in Knox County at 82.2 percent, according to Kohlstrand. This number does not fall between the state guidelines, so this year’s revaluation needed to raise the appraised values to more closely match actual sale prices.
The calculations are done triennially to figure in three years’ worth of sale prices. In the current revaluation, sales were considered for 2005-07. Any 2008 softening in the real estate market would not be figured into this revaluation.
Kohlstrand did not provide actual ratios of values to sales in Delaware and Franklin counties, but said it was reasonable to assume their ratios had been higher due to a softer real estate market in those areas.
Both Ruhl and Kohlstrand point out the sales figures for the last three years indicate Knox County’s real estate market has not been hit as hard as others in the state.
“What has been going on is the real estate market is softening in larger counties and urban areas, generally speaking,” Kohlstrand explained.
He added this does not mean the perception in Columbus is that hard economic times are not being felt in Knox County, but that the market is softer in some other counties, and Knox County experienced some growth in the 2005-07 period.
Knox County will receive its next recommendation for aggregrate change in residential value during its next triennial update in 2011. At that time, the strength of the local market would determine what changes, if any, were to be made.
