Montgomery County property values up
Washington Twp., Kettering lead gains in ‘dramatic turnaround.’
New construction helped push Washington Twp. to No. 1 for the most property value gains in the county for 2017, according to a final analysis by the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office.
Kettering had the top spot in a tentative report on values over the summer. The final triennial review, however, shows Washington Twp. up more than $270 million, and Kettering gained $218 million.
Washington Twp. got a boost from a $15.5 million Board of Revision increase to the value of Whole Foods Plaza and $12.4 million by the new Devonshire Apartments.
“This is a dramatic turnaround for us to see an increase in value,” said Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith. “Just about every community in the county saw an increase in value for their residential property owners, including Dayton, Trotwood and other areas that had been struggling in recent years with their housing markets.”
Because of a rebound in housing sales, property values rose or held even in all but four of Montgomery County’s 28 jurisdictions, Keith told about 70 local officials Thursday. Overall, the region clawed back about a third of the $3.5 billion lost over the past decade as the county dug out of the Great Recession, he said.
Properties in just three of Dayton’s southern suburbs — led by Washington Twp. — accounted for more than half of a nearly $1.15 billion overall market value gain since 2014. The value of all property, including residential and commercial, is up 4.6 percent from 2014. Residential
alone climbed 6.3 percent.
“The increase in property values is good news for Washington Twp.,” said Jesse Lightle, township administrator. “Our predominant source of revenue is through property taxes, so obviously the valuation numbers are important and significant.”
The Whole Foods Plaza and Devonshire Apartments projects illustrate how development can boost the tax base, she said. The two added $27.9 million.
The final values approved by the state department of taxation determine how much money local jurisdic- tions and school districts can expect to receive from the unvoted portion of local taxes and other levies.
Washington Twp. will receive more tax revenue than others from the unvoted portion, but it’s not a windfall that will make up for the loss of past cuts, Lightle said.
“We will see the increase in our inside millage numbers for sure,” she said. “But we’ve had some decreases in revenue from state legislature cuts ... We lost estate taxes and others. Any poten- tial gain that we would realize is beneficial.”
Value changes will result in about $4.1 million more in revenue from the unvoted portion of taxes spread across the county’s jurisdictions, according to the auditor’s office. School districts will see more than half that, including Centerville’s, estimated to get an additional $657,517, and Kettering, $466,554. Three districts, Dayton, New Lebanon and Trotwood-Madison, are expected to see a slight decrease.
By percentage, Oakwood’s property values — buoyed almost entirely by residential sales between 2013 and 2016 — rose the most, nearly 13 percent.
Final values dropped in Jefferson Twp., Perry Twp., Jackson Twp. and Harrison Twp. But the values dipped in the county’s more rural townships primarily, if not entirely, due to a change in the way agricultural land is taxed. The formula was changed to ease the burden on farmers, some who had seen taxes climb as much as 300 percent in recent years. The change resulted in about a 30 percent reduction — or $82 million — decline in agricultural land values.
The gain in values county-wide will mean an increase for some in the unvoted portion of property taxes.
The owner of a $100,000 house that increased in value 6 percent from the last review will pay about $19 a year more. Currently, that homeowner pays about $306. The inside millage accounts typically for about 10 percent of an overall property tax bill, according the auditor’s office.
Keith said the picture looks good for values to keep rising through the next update in 2020, considering 2017 is about over and comprises a third of the review period ending with 2019.
“By the time December numbers come in, we’ll probably exceed 7,000 valid real estate sales in the county, which is the highest we’ve had since 2005,” he said.