Software issues delay Ashtabula County real estate tax bills » Local News » The Star Beacon; Ashtabula, Ohio

JEFFERSON — Real estate tax bills for Ashtabula County property owners will be delayed as a result of a problem with the valuations data used to prepare those bills. the issue was discovered by Auditor Roger Corlett’s staff late Thursday afternoon, even as Treasurer Dawn Cragon was waiting for the vendor that prints and mails the bills to notify her that they were in the mail. Corlett said late Friday that the problem is with the county’s 2011 value abstract — a list of all the parcels in the county and their valuations. He said his staff advised him on Thursday that there appears to be “a significant problem with the values of some parcels that were adjusted in the preparation of this year’s abstract of values.” “I believe the problem to be significant enough to request more time to review the problem with the State Tax Commissioner, who approved the values, and the software company that prepared the abstract for us,” Corlett said in a press release issued late Friday. Earlier in the day, Cragon said the values were certified by the auditor on Dec. 30 and she forwarded the tax bill data to her vendor one week later. the vendor has 10 business days in which to print and mail the bills, which would have put them in the mail by next Friday. Taxes are due Feb. 15. as to what effect the software problem will have on the due date is unclear at this point, but Cragon said taxpayers must be given at least 20 days between the mailing and closing date. Corlett said the problem appears to be isolated to a certain geographic area of the county. “This problem caused some homes and buildings to go up in value instead of going down in a neighborhood where all buildings should be going down. I believe these errors should have been caught by the vendor and possibly the State Tax Commissioner review staff,” he said. Commissioners said earlier this week that they have been receiving calls from property owners who had not received a 2011 tax bill. Cragon said her office can accept estimated payments even if a bill has not been mailed, and has been doing so since December. “they are always able to come in here and pay the bills,” Cragon said. Property owners can visit the Treasurer’s or Auditor’s websites to search for their property and print a tax bill. Because the auditor’s site has some compatibility issues with Internet Explorer 9, Cragon suggests using the treasurer’s site, ashtabulacountytreasurer.org. use the “Tax Search” link to begin your search. the valuations and tax data that is online may not be accurate, however, based upon the problems uncovered Thursday. In general, property owners won’t find any unpleasant surprises when they open this year’s tax bill, when it finally arrives. indeed, due to the decreased real estate values in the county, many will see a slight decrease in what they owe, unless their valuations increased or additional levies approved by voters made their way into the rate. Higher tax bills will greet many property owners who have land that qualifies for the Current Agricultural use Valuation (CAUV) reduction. Changes at the state level forced the Auditor to reduce the amount of the reduction in many cases. Corlett said a member of his staff will be working with the software company throughout the weekend and holiday to correct the issues and prepare a revised abstract. Corlett said he hopes to have an update on the situation and any revised schedule for mailing the tax bills by Tuesday or Wednesday.