What’s your next step to challenge a Lucas County property value

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Lucas County property values are a big talker again. But what are your options if you’re still unhappy with your value?

We have been following this story since residents received new valuations many of which they felt were too high. Now the county has discovered that hundreds of those higher valuations were the result of what it calls a programming glitch, an error.

You can advocate for yourself, that process is open right now. The county auditor and her staff are going through figures to see whether there are any other problems they can determine.

Many Lucas County homeowners got their home valuation last year and didn’t like the increase. With news this week that a programming glitch has been discovered and inflated the value of at least 346 properties some are even more unhappy.

“I really have no confidence, and I don’t think the public should have any confidence in anybody’s property valuations,” said Lucas County property owner Julia Webb.

Webb and some of her neighbors have been crunching numbers. Their appeals were rejected during the informal review period but the glitch news has them even more skeptical.

“They’re not consistent. They’re not consistently increased. They’re not consistent with fair market value,” said Webb.

“I think it’s very concerning that there could be a programming glitch this large cause it’s beyond our neighborhood,” said Lucas County property owner Karen Martin.

“We are currently investigating other parcels that may have been affected. My investigation will conclude by the end of next week,” said Lucas Count Auditor Katie Moline.

Auditor Moline and her team are now looking through the numbers of other properties to see what else might be wrong. It’s an issue first discovered during community meetings when some people came in with property values that had increased 70% or 80%.

“We thought that was odd but we thought maybe it was one error or isolated to a couple of properties. Then we saw a trend emerge,” said Moline. “Because of the timing of when I had to submit the values to the state by the end of October there wasn’t enough time to fix it, investigate it, make sure it was proper, and correct it by the time I had to file the final values and I didn’t want to jeopardize the county’s funding. That would have been jeopardized if she didn’t turn it in on time.”

Everyone can now bring evidence, like comparable home sales, to the Board of Revision and fight the property value. Appointments are now being taken. While we don’t know what other issues will be found, people can speak up for themselves.

“The county auditor needs to just start over and revamp whatever process they have used,” said Webb.

Taxes are due this month. If you already paid and you’re either in this recent group that’s going to be changed or eventually you get your amount changed, you can work with the Lucas County Treasurer’s office about getting a refund or the over payment credits toward the second half of next year.

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