Local residential property values and agricultural market values have increased, according to a triennial update released Friday
by Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley.
Fawley said the law mandates that all real estate parcels be appraised every six years, with the most recent appraisal for Highland County in the 2012 tax year (payable in 2013). The triennial update occurs at the midway point, which was this year (payable in 2016).
Fawley said the difference between the appraisal every six years and the three-year, triennial appraisal “is major.” During the appraisal, he said, each parcel is viewed and evaluated, but for the triennial update “any changes are determined solely by the sales per neighborhood during the past three years.”
Fawley said that for 2016, residential property values will increase an average of 2.3 percent with some value changes being less than that and some more. Some, he said, will reflect a zero increase, but there were no decreases.
Also for next year, Fawley said agricultural market values in Highland County will reflect an average 8.01 percent increase, again with some increasing less than that and some increasing more.
He said that because of the limited number of commercial and industrial sales to be used as comparisons, those values would not change.
With the triennial update comes new soil values for agricultural properties in the Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) program which are provided by the Ohio Department of Taxation, Fawley said. The values, he said, “have again increased significantly,” with some even doubling.
Fawley said his office could provide those values to farmers wanting to know exact figures.
Fawley said his office would not be able to determine property taxes for 2016 until levies have been voted on in November and until the state provides his office with reduction factors. However, the office can provide information as to whether a real estate value has changed.
As the new values are not available on the website, Fawley said that if anyone would like to know if the value of their property has changed, they can contact the auditor’s office at 937-393-1915 prior to Sept. 30.
Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.
