OxfordPress.com

There is a chance many property owners' most recent tax appraisals are too high, according to Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds, but he can't do anything about it unless homeowners protest.

Reynolds told roughly 60 people at Ross High School Monday night, Sept. 8, that despite continuing declines in market values this year, the state wouldn't allow his office to factor 2008 sales into this year's property value appraisal.

The appraisal, recently approved by the state with an average 5.95 percent increase countywide, is based on declining sale values in 2006 and 2007 but a general increase since the last appraisal, he said.

But home prices fell another 4.99 percent from June 2007 to June this year, according to the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors. And homeowners can use 2008 numbers to contest the appraisal and have it lowered, Reynolds said.

"The value we currently have out there, it's not set in stone," Reynolds said. "We want to make sure we have a fair value. We want to make sure we have a very conservative fair value."

To schedule a meeting, call (513) 887-3154.

But Kim Cornett of Fairfield worried this was of little help to those without the resources to contest the reappraisal.

"What about the seniors who don't have the knowledge or ability to come in and debate this? What is the auditor going to do for them?" she asked.

"I have on occasion, for an invalid senior, gone to their house," replied Deputy Auditor Mike Tilton.

Reynolds also apologized for a mailing error that caused some property value notices to not arrive until this week.

Several people at the town hall meeting said they believe their appraisal was inaccurate because the homes weren't compared to comparable ones.

Helen Plank, for example, said no land near her Trenton properties have sold in recent years, so they were compared to much larger and newer ones elsewhere.

"There's something wrong with this picture," she said.

There is indeed something wrong with the picture, said Dan Ferguson, assistant county prosecutor.

"It is a very flawed system ... but it is the system that the legislature has handed down and mandated that these guys put into effect," Ferguson told the crowd.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.