Belmont County Treasurer: Tax Bills Based on Controversial Valuations Going Out
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- The state approved new property tax valuations announced last fall, Belmont County Treasurer Kathy Kelich said, noting that bills are expected to be issued this week.
"Even though this is an area of contention, I wanted to advise the commissioners and the taxpayers that the abstract, which is the appraised value the auditor has sent out, has been approved by the state," Kelich said during a commission meeting Wednesday. :The state is going to get back with us -- they have not as yet -- as to the tax rates. As soon as we get those, we'll be able to produce the bills.
"As of right now, we will be on track to have our due date as Feb. 22," she said.
"It is our appraisal numbers that go to the state, so it's residential, commercial and industrial. … They did approve them. I know that's to the chagrin of most taxpayers, however it is necessary in order for us to get tax rates. In order to produce the bills, we have to have tax rates," she added.
In October, the county auditor's office sent out around 54,000 notices to landowners, notifying them of a change in property values. A series of informal interviews was scheduled to allow landowners to challenge the results.
The first floor of the courthouse was soon crowded with hundreds of landowners. Others met with analysts Jan. 3 and Jan. 4.
"Some of them were resolved, some of them were not, from the earlier bunch. We are still receiving information from the appraisal company as to any changes or modifications that need to be made," Kelich said, adding that the analysts will look at the information provided by the residents contesting their rates.
"A lot of that is the factual information that they can show. If someone came in and said, 'My water doesn't run,' they would actually, physically have to go out there and find that out. Things of that nature."
Appraisal Research, a firm contracted by the auditor's office to conduct the assessments, held the informal interviews. Kelich said the county has not yet received results from the hearings held earlier this month.
"If we can get tax rates on it before (Jan. 11), we'll send it to our printer to be printed out by Monday. We'll send the file. That will take us some days to process. We're hoping that tax bills will go out the 18th -- the latest the 22nd. By law, I have to have them out 20 days prior to the due date, so we will more than succeed in doing that, however we do like to get them out at least four weeks to five weeks ahead of time," she said. "I would hope people start receiving them (Jan. 22) through (Jan. 24)."
Belmont County Auditor Roger Conroy has said the state mandates that properties be re-evaluated every six years. Property values increased an average of 15 percent to 16 percent with the 2018 assessment. The state also required an increase of 10 percent three years ago.
Regarding the informal hearings, Conroy said the county's board of revision will look into the claims of incorrect appraisal. The board consists of himself, Kelich and a commissioner. A meeting date will be set.
"They're all scheduled for board of revision hearings," he said. "It'll be sometime after (Jan.) 14."
Conroy added that the process may be lengthy.
"If we have a lot (of hearings), they'll start early in the morning and go through the afternoon. They may go through multiple days," he said. "We have six months to complete them all."