FAMILIAR CHALLENGER FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY AUDITOR
This is the third race between the two in the past eight years.
Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith is running for a sixth term this November against a familiar challenger.
Republican Harry Bossey, who took on Keith in 2010 and 2014, is trying again to unseat the longtime Democrat.
We asked each of them some questions about what they would do if elected. Here are their answers: Q: What are the two biggest issues facing the county auditor’s office?
Harry Bossey: The two most important issues facing the auditor’s office are:
1.) Property assessment and fairness process;
2.) Modernization of the county computer system.
Property Assessment and Fairness Process — The County Auditor should have an established and transparent process of selection of county property assessors and evaluate their performance on an on-going basis to ensure impartiality, including periodic audits of non-staff assessors to ensure compliance with established rules, practices, and contracts with attitude towards fairness to county residents and property owners. Modernization of County Computer Systems — The Auditor is also the manager of the county computer systems. As the leader of the Data Processing Board, the Auditor’s office needs a professional with a real understanding of information technology.
In this role, the Auditor can take the lead in moving the county to a more transparent and friendly government organization, thus increasing access to auditor data and reducing resident tax appeals.
Karl Keith: The two most pressing issues facing the county auditor’s office are the 2020 Revaluation of property values and protecting consumers against credit card skimmers at gas pumps.
The 2020 Revaluation is a twoyear long, multi-step process to update all property values for each of the county’s 250,000 parcels, where institutional knowledge of county government and mass appraisal are critical for the project’s success.
Additionally, the dramatic rise in the discovery of credit card skimmers at gas pumps in Montgomery County requires constant attention by the auditor’s office and its Weights and Measures staff in order to protect consumers from identity theft. Q: People are concerned about the safety of credit card machines on gas pumps. What
can you do as county auditor to save people’s data?
Harry Bossey: Unfortunately there have been no reported cases of apprehended suspects - or victims - of compromised gas pump skimmers.
Residents deserve better protection than a series of self-serving election-year reports which result in no investigations or prosecutions.
As county auditor, I would perform frequent unscheduled sweeps of pumps in the county, and invite the appropriate law enforcement authorities to vigorously find, apprehend and prosecute the suspects perpetrating these crimes.
Karl Keith: The growing threat of illegal credit card skimmers placed inside gas pumps requires a proactive approach by the county auditor.
There are three main ways the county auditor can combat this crime: inspections, collaboration, and education. With a larger presence of skimmers being found in the county, my office has increased the number of gas pump inspections by our weights and measures staff, performing more than 13,000 inspections last year which is almost double the number performed in the previous year.
Secondly, the auditor can collaborate with other county auditors and with federal investigators to work on prevention strategies and help identify and prosecute skimming offenders in and around Ohio.
Thirdly, the county auditor can help educate the public and gas station owners about the crime and how consumers can protect themselves from identity theft at the gas pump. I have been a statewide leader in the effort to address the skimming crime, collaborating with fellow county auditors to address this illegal activity in Ohio.
For example, in 2017, I led a statewide skimmer sweep involving 65 other county auditors and their inspectors that resulted in more than 12,000 gas pumps across Ohio checked for skimmers over a two-day period. Additionally, I have hosted nine “Skimmer Summits” across the state to raise awareness about the dangers of gas pump skimmers and teach prevention measures to gas station owners, members of local law enforcement and other interested individuals. My staff and I have made numerous presentations to local police departments to educate officers and enlist their support to address this crime. Q: What will you do to make sure home appraisals are accurate and homeowner concerns about evaluations are handled properly?
Harry Bossey: My role as County Auditor will be to create an environment for fair and equitable property tax assessments and taxes, open government and save the taxpayers’ money. It is important that the practice and process of property tax valuations be consistently applied across the county to both residential and commercial properties.
This would create an environment of fairness, discourage predatory lending practices, and reduce current levels of property abandonment and crime rates and the continued flight to the suburbs.
Karl Keith: To improve accuracy, my office recently began using updated digital technology that will improve the overall quality and accuracy of the county’s real estate data as well as save taxpayers money by making the property tax administration process more efficient.
It will also assist homeowners and businesses with “before” photos in case of property loss. Additionally, we are taking steps to use new technology to enhance our quality control procedures as we conduct the next countywide revaluation.
For homeowner concerns, providing opportunities to engage the public in the revaluation process and being open and transparent will continue to be major priorities for my office. We will continue to improve our website to provide access to information and data regarding each homeowner’s property.
We will continue to hold workshops to assist property owners who want to file formal appeals of their property values to the Board of Revision (BOR) to address their concerns.
In addition, we were one of the first counties in Ohio to hold informal review sessions that invite property owners to inspect the details of their valuations with certified appraisers at locations within their community before those values are finalized. As auditor, I will continue to make my staff available to property owners in their own backyard and engage the public in this process.