Ohio postpones Lake County property reappraisal

PAINESVILLE, Ohio, — Lake County’s next full property reappraisal will be delayed by one year due to a statewide realignment of Ohio’s revaluation schedule, county Auditor Christopher Galloway announced Friday.

The Ohio Department of Taxation’s realignment of Ohio’s property reappraisal calendar shifts Lake County’s next sexennial revaluation from 2030 to 2031.

The county’s 2027 triennial update will still move forward on schedule.

The change is part of a broader effort to smooth out how counties across the state conduct large-scale property valuations.

In total, 16 counties, including Lake County, will see their reappraisal years adjusted so the workload is spread more evenly from year to year, according to a press release.

Galloway, vice president of the County Auditors Association of Ohio and a member of the governor’s Property Tax Working Group, said the shift has been a long time coming.

“It is important that the three-year staggered cycles be better balanced to ensure the work of property valuation is done as efficiently and accurately as possible,” he said. “As a county that is moving from 2030 to 2031, knowing now helps us plan and best communicate with residents well in advance.”

By redistributing counties more evenly across the calendar, state officials say assessors can do their work more accurately and with fewer resource strains.

For Lake County officials, the advance notice also helps with planning and communication. Galloway said the change gives officials time to prepare and to explain the process to residents well before it happens.

For property owners, the most immediate impact is timing. Instead of seeing a full reappraisal three years after the 2027 triennial update, Lake County residents will now wait four years.

Galloway said that extra year could matter, especially if the housing market cools and returns to more typical patterns.

“My hope is that it buys our residents more time and hopefully a housing and real estate market that returns to historical norms and therefore far lower valuation increases,” he said. “Additionally, it is my hope that technology advances by 2031 will help us to greatly reduce the cost of the Sexennial revaluation and therefore save tax dollars,”