Medina County has more than 82,000 separate parcels of real estate property. It is the duty of the Auditor to see that every parcel of land, and the buildings thereon, are fairly and uniformly appraised and then assessed for tax purposes. A general reappraisal is mandated by Ohio Law every six years and an update every three years. The office maintains a detailed record of the appraisal on each parcel in the County, and these records are open for public inspection on the Medina County Auditor’s website.
Medina County Appraisal and Appraisal Updates
The next significant dates for Medina County property owners to know about their assessed values are:
- Appraisal Updates: You can expect appraisal updates to arrive by mail by the 4th Week of August in 2016.
- Reappraisals: You can expect a full reappraisal by the Medina County Auditor in the 4th week of August in 2019.
These dates are significant to property owners because your property taxes are based on the appraised, or tax assessed, value of the property. Although the Auditor cannot raise your property taxes, your tax bill is based on the assessed value of your property, multiplied by the tax rate in your community. If you feel that the assessed value of your property is much higher than the property is worth, you could be paying unnecessary taxes on an inflated value.
Appealing Your Tax Assessed Value in Medina County
The Medina County Auditor’s objective is to give the most fair and objective assessment of your property’s market value, or what it would be worth were you to sell it today, which they do to their best ability. However, there may be miscalculations, or things about your property the Auditor’s Office is unaware of. For Example, if your garage was severely damaged in a storm, your basement suffered thousands of dollars of damage in a flood or a fire left portions of your home with deferred maintenance, it’s possible the true market value of your home is much less than the tax-assessed value. If this is the case, there is a process to appeal the county’s appraised value, in order to lower the taxable amount on your property taxes.
Step 1: Burden of Proof is On Property Owner
By Ohio law, the burden of proof to establish market value is on the property owner. At Fast Appraisals we get many tax appeal appraisal requests from home owners that wish to submit our property appraisal report, completed by a certified appraisal, as evidence to support (or prove) the market value of the property is lower than the County Auditor’s assessed value. We typically have appraisers in Medina County a few times each week and also anticipate extra orders around the time Medina County Auditor appraisals and appraisal updates go out, the last week in August 2016, 2019 and every three years following, meaning Fast Appraisals will be able to provide you with an appraisal in time to appeal the property value.
Step 2: Attend Special Hearing to Contest County Appraisal
Appealing your tax valuation can be done in any year, not just when the county does their appraisals and appraisal updates, but there are two benefits to making sure you act fast if you feel a county appraisal or update is inaccurate:
- Medina County, and most Ohio counties, give you a small window of 2 weeks +/- to attend a scheduled hearing specifically to appeal the assessment. This process means you have to get evidence, like an appraisal from a licensed real estate appraiser, in time for the hearing, but it’s a much faster appeal process than the more traditional filing with the Board of Revision. In times of reappraisals and updates, it is recommended to get your evidence and attend the special appeal hearings when possible. The county may also have office hours during this same time period to address homeowners that feel their property values were unfairly assessed.
- When you successfully appeal the tax assessed value, that assessment will usually be the value your property taxes are based on for the next three years.
For more information on Medina County’s last full reappraisals, in 2013, read “Drop Slows for County’s Property Values.”
Step 3: Traditional Method of Appealing Medina Property Value
If you are not available to attend the special hearings scheduled for appealing the new tax appraisals or appraisal updates, you may follow the standard process for appealing your property value in Medina County. A comprehensive outline of that process can be found by clicking this link on the Medina County Auditor’s website “How to Appeal Your Property Value“. You will still need evidence, such as an appraisal report from a licensed property appraisal company like Fast Appraisals, and you will need to complete DTE Form 1 “Complaint Against the Valuation of Real Property”. Filings are accepted starting January 1st and the deadline to file is March 31st.
To order a property appraisal from Fast Appraisals for a tax appeal call us at 216-932-4663 or fill out our tax appeal appraisal form and we will contact you for more property information and/or to schedule an appraisal.