News Summary

SPRINGFIELD — Area business owners are pleased that Clark County George Sodders is moving forward in review of inconsistencies in the 2007 mass appraisal, officials said Monday, March 10.

Sodders addressed Center City Association and Downtown Business Alliance in a meeting that was closed to the press to accommodate members who "are shy about their questions being recorded," said Sam Beloff, Center Center Association co-chair and board member of the Downtown Business Alliance.

In a post-meeting interview, Sodders said that property value appeals and the current procedure of the review were discussed.

"I think we had a very fruitful meeting," Sodders said. "A number of questions were asked and answered."

The extensive review of property values is being conducted under a $75,000 contract with John Ebert, a property expert who was also a consultant during the 2007 mass reappraisal by Appraisal Research Corp. for nearly $1.2 million.

To date, the auditor's office has had more than 1,500 inquiries and at least 79 appeals have been filed with the county's Board of Revision.

Of the inquiries, there have been about 600 property values that were changed at the auditor's office that must be reviewed to ensure that they were altered in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code, Sodders said.

Sodders announced the need for a review in response to a News-Sun investigation that found property values that had sharply increased in some areas and decreased in others, with no apparent consistency.

Documents obtained by the News-Sun through an open records request revealed that auditor's office employees had concerns about the mass reappraisal as early as 2006.

But local business owners said Monday's meeting wasn't about pointing fingers.

"We've already reached the point that we've identified the problem," said John Fleeger Jr., owner of several properties in the city. "We're working now to fix it."

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0374 or boutten@coxohio.com.