Kirtland resident and lawyer extraordinaire, Katarina Vesna Mijic-Barisic, has filed a compliant in the Lake County Court of Common Pleas against the Lake County Auditor Chris Galloway.

Excerpts from the complaint:

Defendant, Lake County Auditor, is a public office subject to the Ohio Public Records Act, R.C. Chapter 149, and is located in Lake County, Ohio. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant is or was responsible for the preservation, retention, and  production of public records in accordance with the Ohio Public Records Act, R.C.  Chapter 149, including but not limited to R.C.§ 149.351. 

Contrary to the valuation determined and communicated during the informal review, Plaintiff thereafter received an email from Defendant stating that Defendant  (Lake County Auditor) had decided to increase Plaintiff’s (Vesna’s) property valuation from the value determined at  the informal review. 

On or about October 28, 2024, in an effort to understand the basis for Defendant’s  decision to substantially increase Plaintiff’s property valuation from the lower value  determined during the informal review, Plaintiff submitted a public records request  pursuant to R.C. §149.43 seeking copies of the records relied upon by Defendant  in connection with Plaintiff’s informal review. 

On or about November 26, 2025, Defendant, through its legal counsel, acknowledged that Defendant’s computer system automatically overwrote all  records generated, entered, and maintained by Defendant during the informal review, resulting in the destruction of all records of the informal review. 

We will keep our readers informed of the decisions made by the Lake County Court of Common Pleas.

Editorial Comments by Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall

We do not believe that the role of the local government is to be in the business of property valuation.

The current property tax system is overly complex, costly to administer, taxes unrealized gains, and is easily manipulated to the detriment of the taxpayers.  There will be no need to pay third party administrators to value the properties, and reductions in personnel at the State and local levels will reduce the size and cost of government.

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