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Warren County resident urges help to obtain property-comparison data for reassessment hearing
Summary
At the Warren County Board of Commissioners meeting, a long-time homeowner asked county staff for assistance accessing the comparable-property information used in a recent reassessment and described financial strains from rising assessments and new mills.
Mrs. Oviatt, a Warren County resident, used the public-comment period at the Warren County Board of Commissioners meeting to ask county staff for help obtaining the data the assessor used to compare her home for a recent reassessment. "I want to know what houses they use to compare my house with," she said, adding she had searched the county website without success.
Mrs. Oviatt said she and her family built and finished the house 50 years ago, have paid about $53,000 in taxes over time and borrowed $19,000 to build the house. She said the recent reassessment increased her assessed value far more than expected and that the growth in rates and the addition of 25 mills raised concerns about future tax bills and the burden passed to her heirs. "I'm objecting to the triple dipping that's going on with this," she said.
During the exchange, a county staff member asked whether she planned to stay for the meeting and confirmed staff would reach out to her after the session. A staff member identified in the record as Pam is the person the resident said she previously contacted and discussed data ownership and access issues with; Pam told the resident the external contractor performing the reassessment did not "own" the county's data.
The resident asked for an explanation on which factors—location, condition, square footage, or other criteria—were used to determine comparisons, noting the assessment notice did not specify those comparables or the weighting used. She told commissioners she had searched using building type and square footage and could not find matches, but noted a county price index showed an 11% drop by May in Warren County.
Commissioners directed county staff to have someone reach out to the resident to help her locate the comparison information she requested.
The comment occurred during the public-comment portion of the meeting and did not produce a formal vote or policy change; staff follow-up was the clear next step.
