Owners can appeal their property values each year to change what they owe in taxes. But so can the Summit County Assessor’s Office.
That’s what assessors recently did for three properties in the River Valley Ranch subdivision, between Peoa and Rockport.
The Summit County Council approved an increase of $4.5 million for one property and about $1 million and $300,000 for the others Sept. 4.
“These homes sit back off the road—posted, gated homes,” Summit County Assessor Stephanie Poll said. Her office doesn’t have the right to go beyond property gates to appraise home values.
Assessors can enter gated communities and sometimes venture onto private property. But they need the owner’s permission to access a fenced property posted with “private property” or similar signs.
The county says that’s resulted in lower property taxes for the three River Valley Ranch homes in question.
“That was sort of news to me too,” Councilmember Chris Robinson. “And it's rare that we see an increase in the valuations on a stipulation. But that was because it was driven by the assessor's office wanting to correct a discrepancy that they viewed was there because of lack of access.”
The assessor’s office realized one home was more valuable because it was recently listed for sale. That property saw the $4 million increase.
“We've come up with other avenues of trying to get some information, and on these three particular homes, found that our [computer-assisted mass appraisal] system details of the property were completely inadequate,” Poll said. “So we are sending out notice of a corrected valuation on these three properties.”
The deadline to appeal property values every year is Sept. 15.
But since the River Valley Ranch properties have been reappraised, those owners get another 45 days after receiving their new valuation notices to appeal the Summit County assessor’s updated property findings.
