Franklin County: Auditor explains levy estimator, 2023 reappraisal process
The Franklin County Auditor's Office has an online tool to help property owners learn how tax issues on the Nov. 8 ballot would affect their pocketbooks if approved.
Called a ballot levy estimator, it is on the auditor's website at franklincountyauditor.com/levyestimator.
The estimator is programmed to calculate the property tax on bond issues and tax levies appearing on the November ballots in 11 taxing districts.
Property owners enter their address into the calculator, which estimates how much the issues, if approved, would add to their property tax bills.
Franklin County Auditor Stinziano: 'Know the value of your vote'
The estimator will calculate such payments on bond issues or tax levies placed on the ballot by New Albany-Plain Local Schools, Pickerington Schools, Upper Arlington Schools, Worthington Schools, New Albany-Plain Local Joint Park District, city of Columbus, city of Grandview Heights, village of Minerva, Franklin Township and Madison-Plains Local Schools.
Auditor Michael Stinziano said the estimator is designed to give voters information and help them play their role in determining their area's taxes.
Voters in each of the school districts or municipal areas with tax issues on the Nov. 8 ballot are to receive mailers from the auditor's office, telling them how to find the levy estimator, which, the mailer says, would help them "Know the value of your vote," Stinziano said.
The levy estimator is one element in his office's commitment to transparency, he said.
"We get a lot of questions from people – when their property tax bill comes from the treasurer's office to the auditor's office – 'What happened?'" he said. "And we share, 'It was on your ballot.' You have an important role ... that occurs when you look at tax and levy issues. So that value of your vote is an important one. ... We want all property owners to understand they could have something on their ballot that is going to potentially increase their property taxes."
Another goal is to provide information that is both available and readily understood, Stinziano said.
"When you're talking about mills (the rate at which property tax issues are collected), when you're talking about values per $100,000 of a home, it can get pretty confusing," he said. "So the estimator is meant to be a kind of one-stop-shop tool that really shows the government working for the property owner and making them as informed as they can."
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Operating levies and permanent-improvements levies follow a consistent formula for determining cost based on millage, but the cost of bond issues could vary depending on how bond rates are set, Stinziano said.
The levy estimator calculates the effects of those rates, he said.
His office used the bond rates certified for the different issues and is confident the estimations will be very close, he said.
Some bond issues show disclaimers in red type to indicate that a millage listed for the issue is expected to collect at a lower rate than the listed rate. The city of Columbus and Worthington Schools, for example, have such disclaimers.
The estimator was built by his office staff, he said, and similar estimators also are in use in other counties.
Stinziano emphasized the voters have the power to make decisions at the polling place, and the estimator is designed to help them with those decisions.
"We continue to remind the public that they play a larger role in setting what their property tax and valuation is, and that is participating when there are bond and levy issues on their ballot," he said.
"Understanding that impact ... and how that correlates, we really encourage people to understand the value of the vote, their role in setting their taxing district rate. Because by the time they get the bill from the treasurer and we get the most questions, their ability to have the most direct impact in that already has come and gone."
Franklin County auditor's neighborhood survey, 2023 reappraisals
Also on the auditor's website is another page that involves community participation – a neighborhood survey that will help the auditor's office during 2023 property reappraisals, Stinziano said.
In Ohio, county auditors are required to do a full, general reappraisal of real estate property valuation every six years. The goal is to update a property's appraised value, which is used to determine how much is paid on property taxes.
Stinziano said such a sexennial reappraisal is scheduled for 2023, and its results will be reflected on tax bills in January 2024.
The reappraisal is a lengthy process, he said, requiring appraisal of every property in the county, a number exceeding 440,000.
The entire process takes between two and two and a half years for a county the size of Franklin to be completed, he said.
Factors used in reappraising a property are not limited to the property itself, Stinziano said, and that's where the neighborhood survey comes in. It's online at franklincountyauditor.com/neighborhoodsurvey.
Property owners are asked to identify their residence by address and then to rank a number of characteristics, such as whether they live in the residence, how long they have lived there and how they would rate the desirability of the home and its neighborhood.
They also are asked to rank the existence or quality of nearby amenities, which include shopping, restaurants, business facilities, medical facilities, neighborhood streets, public parks and community and recreation facilities.
Such factors are the same criteria used when auditor's office appraisers look at properties in the field, Stinziano said.
"Our real goal here is people understanding the value of their home. 'What value do I place on having those amenities?'" he said.
Traditionally, he said, property owners react to reappraisals after receiving their tax bills. The survey's goal is to collect feedback in advance of the reappraisal process, he said.
Property owners can get more involved in the reappraisal process as it continues, he said.
In August 2023, mailers listing the auditor's estimated valuation of properties will be sent to property owners, who also will be able to go to the auditor's website to find those estimates, he said.
As with previous reappraisals, property owners also are to be able to meet with the auditor's representatives for informal property-value reviews.
Those will be scheduled at a number of sites, and property owners also will have the option to talk to the auditor's office remotely, he said.
"We will continue to work with any property owner to explain the process and appreciate the opportunity to answer their questions and to highlight how important each property owner is in establishing these valuations," he said.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano touts levy estimator
