Monroe Commissioners: Reassessment complaints lower than expected

Monroe County Commissioners’ Chairman John Moyer said during Wednesday’s meeting that since the preliminary assessments were mailed, fewer than 3 percent of property owners have contacted Tyler Technologies requesting an informal review of their assessment.

“The first week the phones were ringing off the hook and people were complaining that they couldn’t get through. The second week the office was able to handle all the calls. By the third week they were sitting around waiting for calls,” Moyer said.

During an informal review, property owners can bring mistakes to the attention of Tyler employees who will have an opportunity to revise the assessments based on the information.

The next step, Moyer said, will be a certified notice which will be mailed around the first of July. After the notice is received, if the property owner still has a concern they may schedule an appeal with one of the three Appeals Boards set up by the county. The final step in the appeal process would be to appeal to the county’s Court of Common Pleas.

Moyer added that in an attempt to help property owners to understand the process even better they are creating a list of frequently asked questions that will be available on the county website.

Additionally Moyer said that we have no idea at this point in time how the new assessments will affect the taxes in the municipalities and school districts since it is dependent on the millage rates set during budgeting.

“We know that the millage rates have to go down since the current rates are set on a lower valuation,” he said. “The new system used full value assessment.”

As an example, Moyer said the current county millage rate is 21.25 mills, and with the new assessment that would equate to about 4 mills.

In other business

Commissioner John Christy said that mechanical engineers have been inspecting all of the mechanical systems in the county courthouse as part of the renovation project that is expected to take place over the next few years.

The commissioners also approved a contract with ASL Refrigeration to replace the cooling tower at the county building at a cost of $278,900. Moyer said the existing tower is the original tower from when Sears built the building sometime in the 1980s and that the county certainly got its “money’s worth” out of the tower.