A citizen in the Willoughby-Eastlake school district asked us if there is any truth to the allegation that the W-E school district has their own real estate appraisers and continual look through the property tax roles to ensure that property values are accurately recorded. I had never heard of that before, so we contacted the Lake County Auditor’s office and their Appraisal Department, and asked some questions so that we could provide an accurate answer.
Here is what we were told by Mr. Scott Yamomoto, Chief Deputy of the Lake County Appraisal Department :
“The Auditor’s office handles all values for assessment purposes. I am unaware of any political subdivisions that have their own appraiser. Boards of Education may have attorneys that check the difference between sales prices and values and may file BOR appeals each year to ask that values be increased to sale prices. This is not an unusual practice in the state of Ohio.”
My prior dealings with Mr. Yamomoto has shown that he is extremely knowledgeable in his area of expertise, and is very accommodating to the general public. He is a credit to the Lake County Auditor’s office.
I can tell you that when I went through the Board of Revision’s review process to reduce my personal property value, there was an attorney representing the Riverside School Board ensuring that the best interests of the school board were maintained.
Section 5715.19 of the Ohio Revised Code requires the Board of Revision to notify the affected School Board, within thirty days after the last date on which such complaints may be filed, of all complaints requesting an increase/decrease greater or less than $50,000 market value or $17,500 taxable value. If your request is greater or less than this amount, the School Board has the right to file a counter-complaint against your original complaint.
When I think about it, the school’s use of attorneys is disconcerting to me. Follow my logic on this one:
- Residents pay property taxes to the schools, and will continue to pay more because school expenditures can NEVER, EVER, EVER decrease….
- Schools hire attorneys with those property taxes to ensure that property values are “up to snuff”….
- Schools also hire attorneys with those property taxes to lobby the State legislators to ensure that the confusing, complex ballot language for property taxes are not simplified so that the voters have a better chance to know what they are voting on….(see prior article)
https://lobbyistsforcitizens.com/2019/02/28/proposed-ballot-language-changes-makes-sense-to-us/ -
We think that the taxpayers are funding their own demise.
Citizens need to wake up, and vote NO all future new and renewal property tax levies….
Hopefully, we have adequately answered the original question. The Lake County Auditor handles all appraisals, but we have the school’s attorney making sure that they “earn their keep” by combing through the records of home sales in the respective community to ensure they can extract every last cent from the taxpayer…..
It is our position, that they are draining the life-blood out of the community!
(Disclaimer: Any resemblance to any Lake County attorney, living or dead, is strictly co-incidental)
Categories: Lake, Real Estate Taxes, Uncategorized
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