We are pleased to announce that the Finney Law Firm has been selected as counsel in a suit against Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald in a dispute regarding access to public records relating to Mr. FitzGerald’s work for the County.

Read the Ohio Republican Party’s Press Release here.

Finney Law Firm attorneys Curt C. Hartman and Christopher P. Finney are leading this litigation for the firm.

 

In this case, an unfortunate taxpayer obtained a savings on the valuation of its property of more than $1 million (about $25,000 per year in tax savings) in a proceeding before his local Ohio Board of Revision, but it appears he could not prove he actually filed a Complaint.

Result: the Ohio Supreme Court tossed the Board of Revision decision, and the taxpayer lost his previously “won” savings.

Two very simple lessons to be learned as a result of this experience:

1) File your complaint on time and in person (by March 31 of each year); and

2)  Get a keep a date-stamped copy on the filing so you can prove it was timely filed.

Let us help you save money on your property portfolio with our property tax valuation services.

Many of Ohio’s major urban counties, including Hamilton (Cincinnati), Franklin (Columbus), and Montgomery (Dayton), as well as Butler and Warren in Southwest Ohio have either major reassessment years or simpler “updates” for property tax year 2014  (bills issued first in 2015), and thus the total value of property in each taxing district will either rise and fall next year.

Now this is all a bit complicated, but, vastly simplified, the way taxes work in Ohio is that as property valuations at large fall, tax rates automatically rise close to the same percentages, thus raising much the same revenue off of the new, smaller tax base that that the larger base raised in the prior tax year.  And, conversely, as property tax valuations rise, rates automatically fall.  This entry from the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Officer explains a little more about this.

As this entry explains, the early returns in Ohio for Dayton area assessments and Summit County (Akron) show that the tax bills first issued in 2015 will have lower on-average assessments for properties.  That means, even without a single tax increase on the ballot in those counties, rates will rise about the percentage.  Thus, if your property does not decline in assessed value the amount of the “average” property in that county, your overall taxes will rise.

The effect of this can be seen most noticeably in Montgomery County, where today real property tax rates exceed 3% of of the Auditor’s assessed total true value of properties.  This compares to rates in the sub-2.5% range in most of the rest of the state.  Much of this is due to the rapidly-declining tax base in this area.  Based upon 2014 tax year preliminary assessments, that trend appears to be continuing.

If you are concerned your tax bill is too high, let us counsel you on how to achieve tax savings in your real estate portfolio.

 

Our legal practice includes a healthy portion of property tax valuation work — challenging excessive valuations of real property by County Auditors to ultimately reduce the tax burdens for our clients.  In that practice area, we occasionally represent real estate developers who hold developed residential and commercial lots, and or condominiums that are have similar characteristics.

One generally accepted appraisal method for such property that is accepted as a valuation technique generally (by buyers, lenders, etc.) is the “bulk sales” valuation method.  Under the “bulk sales” valuation method, the question is if a series of like properties were sold in bulk today, rather than one-by-one over time, what price would they yield?  Typically that valuation is lower than a parcel-by-parcel sale.

We see this valuation challenge arise where a developer owns many residential lots, or an entire building full of residential condominium units.  He has a choice of selling each lot and each unit over a period of years, which involves, interest cost, taxes, insurance and maintenance costs until all are liquidated.  The alternative would be to sell the lots of condominium units “in bulk” to a single buyer, and to sell them all at once.  In such circumstance, even if individual sales might yield a purchase price of 15% to 25% higher than a “bulk sale,” the “bulk sale” is preferred to avoid the expense and risk of sitting on the inventory.

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that for purposes of valuing property for taxation purposes, it simply will not accept the bulk sales valuation method.  Rather, each individual parcel or condominium unit must be valued separately for tax purposes.

This was recently reaffirmed in Dublin City Schools Board of Education v. East Bank Condominiums, LLC, Slip Opinion, 2014-OHIO-1940.

Please let us know how we can make a difference for you with our real estate tax valuation team.

A recent First District Court of Appeals decision highlights the importance of a thorough and properly executed will – particularly if you are seeking to disinherit a child or grandchild.

In Chambers v. Davis, C-130645, the decedent’s will specified that her daughter and grandson were to receive nothing from the estate, and bequeathed specified items to a niece.  The execution of the will was witnessed by the niece and one other witness.  There was no residuary clause directing the disposal of any remaining assets.

In general, Ohio Revised Code Section 2107.15 invalidates bequests to a person who is one of only two witnesses to the execution of the will.  Based on this section, the Probate Court declared the bequests to the niece void.  Because there was no residuary clause directing the gift otherwise, the specific property left to the niece was then distributed as if the decedent died without a will.

Under the statute of descent and distribution, the property that had been left to the niece passed to the disinherited daughter contrary to the desire of the decedent.

The court reported that Ohio probate law requires more than a simple statement directing that the disinherited party receive nothing.  To effectuate a disinheritance, you must properly disinherit the applicable party, and bequeath your assets to devisees other than the disinherited party.

To make sure your wishes are carried out, make sure your will contains a residuary clause and is properly witnessed.

Politico has a brief summary of today’s Harris v. Quinn decision from the U.S. Supreme Court here.  As with the Hobby Lobby decision, it is narrow and cautious.  It is entirely limited to the attempt by the Illinois legislature to force home health care workers into unions, and likely does not apply directly to other fact patterns.

However, language in the opinion savaging Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which ruled that forced unionization for public employees was constitutional in 1977, has given renewed hope to those challenging forced unionization that the Court is moving in the direction of recognizing the right not to join a union.

Here is SCOTUS Blog’s more detailed analysis of today’s Harris decision.

Our very short plain English version of the Hobby Lobby decision from the U.S. Supreme Court today is that the decision very narrowly exempts  corporations whose shares are “each owned and controlled by members of a single family” from the contraceptive mandate based upon religious beliefs.

The longer Plain English version is here from the SCOTUS blog.