Sixteen of Ohio’s 88 counties—including Franklin, Cuyahoga and Hamilton, which are its three largest—will delay their property tax reappraisals by one year.
Franklin and Hamilton County will wait to revalue properties until 2030, while Cuyahoga County will wait until 2031, according to an Ohio Department of Taxation schedule released last week. Every county in Ohio has to determine the true market value of all of the real estate within its borders every six years.
“In layman’s terms, if I were to sell my property, what is that property worth? What would I list it as?” Department of Taxation Policy Director Tim Lynch said in an interview.
State and county officials say nearly half of the counties in the state have been doing reappraisals at the same time within the six-year cycle, stretching appraisers thin.
“It gives counties and the state, as partners working through the revaluation cycle, it creates more efficiency, more eyes on it,” Lynch said. “To really look at our sales ratio studies to make sure we are being as accurate as possible.”
The administrative change is one of the more than 20 proposals made last year by the property tax working group Gov. Mike DeWine established. The working group recommendations are listed here.
County Auditors Association of Ohio Vice President Chris Galloway, who also serves as the Lake County Auditor, said the valuation is the foundation of how residents are taxed.
“This is a tiny little sort of incremental change, administratively,” Galloway said in an interview.
These delays, he said, might also buy some counties some time as five new property tax bills, which DeWine signed in December, take effect. Galloway said he wants to avoid the “shock and awe” he saw as valuations rose.
In addition to Franklin, Cuyahoga and Hamilton Counties, these counties will undergo revelations in these years:
2028
- Lucas County
2030
- Clinton County
- Delaware County
- Geauga County
- Jackson County
- Mahoning County
- Mercer County
- Morrow County
- Pike County
2031
- Crawford County
- Lake County
- Muskingum County
- Stark County
