(A) Before commencing the appraisal,
reappraisal, or revaluation of real property for the tax purposes in connection
with a sexennial reappraisal, triennial update, or for annual maintenance each
county auditor is required to appoint and employ the experts, deputies, clerks
or other employees as the auditor deems necessary in the performance of the
auditor's duties as assessor with the approval of the tax commissioner. The tax
commissioner hereby grants such general approval. All such employees shall be
appointed as deputies under the provisions of section
319.05 of the Revised
Code. The tax commissioner may order any particular county auditor to seek, in
writing, prior approval from the tax commissioner to appoint and employ any
such experts, deputies, clerks or other employees, as the tax commissioner
deems necessary, in the manner and for the time period the tax commissioner
prescribes.
(B) A county auditor
proposing to make an in-house sexennial reappraisal shall first prepare a
detailed plan for making such appraisal which shall include, but is not limited
to, the following provisions:
(1) Outline of
appraisal procedure to be followed.
(2) Number of persons to be
employed.
(3) The names and
addresses of key persons and supervisors to be employed and their
qualifications.
(4) Compensation
and salaries to be paid and estimate of total cost.
(5) Period of employment.
(6) The date actual appraisal work is to
begin.
(7) Date of completion of
the appraisal, and the specific tax year for which the appraised values shall
be placed on the tax duplicate.
(C) Such plan shall be prepared in duplicate,
one copy to be kept in the office of the auditor and open to public inspection,
and one copy to be filed with the department of taxation as a part of the
foregoing application. Such plan, after being approved by the tax commissioner,
shall not be departed from and there shall be no changes or alterations of the
same without the written approval of an application to the tax commissioner
setting forth specifically the changes, alterations, additions or subtractions
requested by the county auditor.
(D) Progress of work reports shall be made
during the course of the appraisal as determined and requested by the tax
commissioner.
(E) A county auditor
proposing to employ professional appraisal firms or an individual appraiser to
make a complete or partial appraisal, either for a sexennial reappraisal,
triennial update, or for annual maintenance, is required to request and obtain
approval of the tax commissioner of any contract entered into with such
appraisal firm and to file a copy of such contract with the tax commissioner as
a part of the application of the county auditor to commence an appraisal,
reappraisal or revaluation of real property for tax purposes.
(F) Such application shall contain a fully
completed statement on department of taxation form 92, a copy of which form
shall be supplied to each county auditor by the department of taxation. A
contract between a county auditor and a professional appraisal firm shall
include, but is not limited to, the following provisions:
(1) Date actual appraisal work is to
begin.
(2) Date of completion of
all appraisals provided for in the contract and submitting of all reports
concerning same to the county auditor, and the specific tax year for which the
appraised values shall be placed on the tax list and duplicate. The dates
provided in paragraphs (F)(1) and (F)(2) of this rule shall conform to the
dates previously fixed by the entry and order of the tax commissioner issued
pursuant to rule
5703-25-07 of the
Administrative Code and in accordance with section
5715.34
of the Revised Code.
(3) Provision
that the contract shall not be effective until it is approved by the tax
commissioner.
(4) Provision for the
support of values and a retention of a part of the consideration of the
contract by the county auditor as a guarantee of the support of values until
all complaints have been resolved either by the board of revision or higher
authority in an amount deemed to be satisfactory to the county auditor of not
less than two per cent of the total consideration of the contract entered into.
The support of values before the board of revision shall be by a responsible
and competent employee of the appraisal firm. The support of values, upon
appeals from the board of revision to the board of tax appeals or to a common
pleas court shall be by a competent witness who can qualify as an expert and
who has personally inspected the real property in litigation and has made his
independent written appraisal thereof.
The following language shall be included in the support of
value clause of all appraisal contracts:
"Within ten days after the filing of a notice of appeal from a
decision of the county board of revision in any valuation complaint the company
or individual appraiser shall be notified by the county auditor that such
notice has been filed and the company shall see that a competent witness is
well prepared to give proper evidence and testimony at such time as the appeal
is heard by either the board of tax appeals or the court of common pleas and
the witness must be one who can qualify as an expert and who has personally
inspected the property in litigation and has made an independent written
appraisal thereof."
(5)
Provision that the services to be rendered under the contract, with the
exception of the provision regarding the support of values, are to be completed
in time to use the values of the real property in connection with the tax list
and duplicate for the collection of taxes for the year in which the work is
completed and that ten per cent of the contract price be retained by the county
auditor. Upon completion of required services, other than support of values,
and delivery of required reports said retainage shall be paid by the auditor to
the appraisal firm less the retainage provided for the guarantee of support of
values in paragraph (F)(4) of this rule. In the event all such services covered
by the contract, except the support of values, are not completed upon the date
of completion date agreed to, the contract shall provide that all payments
thereafter are to be suspended at the time and withheld by the county auditor
until there has been full compliance with the terms of the contract of the
appraisal firm. Provisions shall be made in the contract for a penalty of not
less than two hundred dollars per day as liquidated damages to begin on the day
following the date of completion as agreed to in the contract and to apply for
each and every day thereafter, excepting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays,
up to and including the date of full and complete compliance by the appraisal
firm of the terms of the contract. In the event that it is necessary for the
county auditor to suspend all payments under the contract for the failure of
the appraisal firm to complete all the services set forth in the contract on
the date of completion agreed to therein, no further payments shall be made to
the appraisal firm under the contract without the approval of the county
prosecuting attorney and the approval of the department of taxation being first
obtained.
The contract shall also provide that in the event the appraisal
firm for any reason is unable to start the appraisal on the date set in the
contract, then the firm shall immediately notify the tax commissioner and shall
appear before the tax commissioner to explain, under oath, the reason or
reasons it is unable to start the appraisal.
(6) The contract shall specifically provide
that in the event that the appraisal firm maintains that the appraisal could
not be completed within the time set in the contract because of an act of God
or because of elements not within the control of the firm such as riots, war,
organized work stoppage, or other delay not caused by the appraisal firm, then
the tax commissioner shall hear the matter and if, in the tax commissioner's
opinion, which shall be final, the delay was actually caused by any of the
above stated reasons or for any other good reason over which the appraisal firm
had no control, then the penalty herein provided for in the contract shall be
dispensed with.
(7) As an alternate
to the retainage for the guarantee of the support of values, required by
paragraph (F)(4) of this rule and the ten per cent retainage and the minimum
two hundred dollars a day penalty required by paragraph (F)(5) of this rule a
performance bond for the full amount of the contract satisfactory to the county
auditor, approved by the county prosecuting attorney and the tax commissioner
will be accepted. The performance bond must provide for the completion of the
contract including the guarantee of the support of values. A copy of the
performance bond must be filed with the tax commissioner at the time of filing
the appraisal contract.
(8)
Provision that the employees of the appraisal firm meet the approval of the
county auditor and that such employees shall be appointed deputies of the
county auditor for the purpose of the reappraisal as well as acting as agents
for the appraisal firm.
(9)
Provision that clearly recites that there is to be no departure from the terms
of the contract or no change or alterations of the same without the written
approval of the tax commissioner being first obtained.
(10) Provision that progress of work reports
shall be made during the course of the appraisal referred to in the contract as
determined and requested by the tax commissioner on D.T.E. form 108.
(11) Provision that there is to be no
subcontracting of all or any part of the services provided under the contract
without the written consent of the county auditor and tax commissioner obtained
prior to execution of the subcontract.
(G) A general sexennial reappraisal or
revaluation of real property for tax purposes shall include all of the real
property situated in the county and all types and classes of such real property
shall be accounted for in a contract contained in the application on form 92 or
in a detailed plan filed by the auditor pursuant to this rule as set forth
above. No such application and no such sexennial reappraisal or revaluation of
real property shall be approved by the tax commissioner unless all types and
classes of real property (land, buildings, structure improvements and fixtures)
are to be, or are, appraised, reappraised or revalued and placed on the tax
list and duplicate for the same tax year.
(H) Each employee engaged in field work,
including the employees furnished by an appraisal firm, shall be provided with
a proper identification card by the county auditor.
(I) Paragraphs (A) to (H) of this rule are
not to be construed as a prohibition or limitation upon the authority of the
county auditor to include in a contract with an appraisal firm any additional
provisions which, in the judgment of the auditor, will insure that the
appraisal be performed and completed in the best possible manner, provided
however, that such additional provisions shall be in writing and shall be
included as a clause in the written contract.
(J) Professional appraisal firms or
individual professional appraisers, prior to contracting with a county auditor
to make a complete or partial appraisal either for a general reappraisal or for
annual maintenance for real property tax purposes as provided by these rules,
shall have submitted to the tax commissioner the following documents:
(1) A list of officers and management with
their qualifications as of the fiscal year preceding the thirty-first of
December of the year in which submitted; or if a newly formed corporation or
partnership, a list of present officers and management with their
qualifications.
(2) A list of all
regional or project appraisal supervisors, or equivalent, that operate in
Ohio.
(3) A list of taxing
authorities with addresses for which the firm or individual professional
appraiser has completed a general reappraisal of real property in the last ten
years or the appraisal is currently in progress.
(4) A list of references from financial
institutions.
(5) After the initial
submission of such lists the firm or individual appraiser shall file such
documents by the thirty-first of December of each year.
(K) After receiving the documents submitted
by the appraisal firms and individual appraisers, the tax commissioner shall
create a file of the same. The tax commissioner shall review the documents and
may require an informal discussion with the representatives of each firm or
individual appraiser who has filed such documents. After this review is
complete, the tax commissioner shall issue an entry in the month of February of
each year, listing all appraisal firms and individual appraisers that have
created a proper file for that year. This file will be used by the tax
commissioner when considering the approval or disapproval of a county auditor's
application requesting authority to employ an appraisal firm or individual
appraiser. This file will also be available to the county auditors for their
use when selecting an appraisal firm or an individual appraiser.
(L) Nothing set out in this chapter shall be
construed as a prohibition on the county auditor with respect to the auditor's
duty to revalue and assess at any time all or any part of the real property in
the county where the auditor finds that the same has changed in value or is not
on the tax list at its taxable value as provided by section
5713.01
of the Revised Code.
(M) For
purposes of seeking approval of assessment contracts by filing the form 92 with
the tax commissioner, the county auditor should seek approval only for
appraisal-related contracts, which include contracts for the following
appraisal purposes: general reappraisal, triennial update, annual maintenance
and new construction, consulting, current agricultural use valuation
compliance, exempt study, land-based and aerial photography used directly for
appraisal purposes, sales review, split-parcel appraisal, support of valuation,
soil study, manufactured home appraisal, and any other appraisal services. The
tax commissioner hereby grants approval to the county auditors, without having
to file the form 92, to enter into assessment-related contracts that are not
for appraisal services, which include contracts for the following purposes:
mapping, aerial photography used in mapping, computers (hardware, software, and
maintenance), Internet, technical support, copiers, fiber optics, microfilm,
bond or debt service contracts, and any other assessment-related contracts that
are not for appraisal services. The tax commissioner may order any particular
county auditor to seek, in writing, prior approval from the tax commissioner to
enter into assessment-related contracts that are not for appraisal services, as
the tax commissioner deems necessary, in the manner and for the time period the
tax commissioner prescribes.