What does an auditor do?
The Auditor normally serves as the Chief Fiscal Officer and the Chief Assessor of the County. As the Chief Fiscal Officer, the Auditor is responsible for keeping the financial accounts and paying bills authorized by the County Commissioners. As the Chief Assessor, it is the duty of the Auditor to fairly and uniformly appraise and assess every parcel of land and the buildings thereon for tax purposes within the county.
According to Ohio Law, the Auditor should make a general reappraisal of all properties every six years to get the market value of properties. Three years after the reappraisal, a triennial update is conducted. The Auditor’s office maintains detailed records of the appraisal, and these records are open for public review.
The General Tax List and Duplicate is prepared by the Auditor and the tax rate is determined by the budgetary requests of each governmental unit each year. Based on this list and duplicate, your property taxes are computed by multiplying the tax rate by your property value. Then the tax credit or incentives are applied to the tax amount. Thus, there are three factors that may influence your property taxes: property value, tax rate, and/or tax credit or incentive. Your property taxes will be used to support the operation of local government such as schools, townships, villages, county, etc.
In order to ensure the fairness and accuracy of the appraisal, the Auditor makes great efforts to establish the property values by analyzing property characteristics, sales activities on the real estate market, and various factors.
To contact the auditor, search for property information, or pay taxes online, select a county below: