• Administration and Distribution of Tax Revenues

• Accounting for all County Funds

• Administration of County Payroll

The County Auditor is the chief fiscal officer of Defiance County. It is her responsibility to account for almost 64 million dollars received each year by the County and to issue warrants (checks) in payment of all County obligations, including the distribution of tax dollars to Defiance County itself and to its twelve townships, three villages, one city, five school districts, one vocational school, one park board, and one library system as well as other County agencies. The Auditor’s general accounting department is the bookkeeper of all County funds and maintains the official records of all receipts, disbursements and fund balances. As Chief Fiscal Officer, the Auditor is required by law to prepare the annual financial report of the County.

It is the County Auditor’s responsibility to serve as the paymaster for approximately 480 county employees.

The County Auditor also distributes motor vehicle license fees, gasoline taxes, estate taxes, fines, and local government funds in addition to real estate and personal property taxes.

• Defiance County has more than 27,900 separate parcels of real property. It is the duty of the County Auditor’s office to see that every parcel of land and the buildings thereon are fairly and uniformly appraised and then assessed for tax purposes.

• A general reappraisal is mandated by Ohio Law every six years and an update every three years.

• The office maintains a detailed record of the appraisal on each parcel in the County, and these records are open for public inspection.

• Preparation of General Tax List and Duplicate

• Administration of Special Assessments

• Administration of Tax Refunds and Abatements

Under law, the County Auditor cannot and does not raise or lower property taxes. Tax rates are determined by the budgetary requests of each governmental unit, as authorized by a vote of the people, and are computed in strict accordance with procedures required by the State Department of Tax Equalization.

Annually the Auditor prepares the general tax list and duplicate. Your Tax bill is based on the tax rate multiplied by your valuation on this duplicate. This is your proportionate share of the cost of operating your local government including:

• Schools

• Townships

• Villages

• County

Ohio law limits the amount of taxation without a vote of the people to what is known as the 10-mill limitation ($10.00 per $1,000 of assessed valuation). Any additional real estate taxes, for any purpose, must be voted by County residents. Your tax rate is an accumulation of all these levies and bond issues.

Special assessments are not a part of your real estate tax, but are included as a separate item on the real estate tax bill. These include such items as:

• ditch assessments

• improvement levies (street paving, curbs, lighting, sidewalks, and sewer or water lines)

The Auditor is required by law to keep an accounting of these special assessments, to place them on the tax duplicate as a separate item, and to return the money collected to the village, township or county office that levied the assessment.

The County Auditor is responsible for administering the Current Agricultural Use Valuation (C.A.U.V.) program and the Agricultural District Program. These two programs help agricultural producers keep taxes lower, deal with water and sewer assessments, nuisance lawsuits and eminent domain issues.

• C.A.U.V. Program ensures that qualified agricultural producing properties (those of either 10 acres or more, unimproved, or 11 acres improved, with a minimum income of $2,500 per year) are appraised based on production rates calculated by the State of Ohio, not on the land’s market value. A one-time $25.00 application fee and a yearly renewal are required.

• Agricultural District is an area of qualified farmland that can be protected from many special assessments and some nuisance lawsuits. There is no fee for participation in the Ag District program. The qualifications are the same as the CAUV program. The program carries a five-year commitment and an expensive penalty can apply if the land is converted to a non-agricultural use before the expiration of the five-year term.

 

• Every agricultural or resident (class A) property receives the 10% rollback that became law several years ago with the enactment of the State income tax. Senior citizens and the permanently disabled can apply for the Homestead Exemption (reduction in real estate taxes).   Applications are available at the Auditor’s office or from the Forms site. Manufactured homes are now also included in this Homestead program.

• The Auditor’s office also administers the 2½% Property Tax Reduction Law which affects residential and agricultural property owners who occupy the home as their primary place of residence.

 

Under Ohio law, it is the responsibility of owners of manufactured homes (house trailers) to register their homes with the County Auditor for tax purposes. Annually the Auditor’s office assesses each manufactured and prepares a tax duplicate. Tax bills are sent to each owner semi-annually. The House Trailer tax is distributed back to the local taxing districts (townships and schools) in the same manner as real estate taxes. In Defiance County, there are approximately 2000 trailers on the tax duplicate.

The County Auditor, as agent for the Ohio Department of Taxation, is responsible for administering the tangible Personal Property Tax Laws.

Generally speaking, anyone in business in Ohio is subject to the tangible Personal Property Tax on business equipment, furniture, fixtures, and inventory.

The tangible Personal Property tax is distributed back to the local taxing districts in the same manner as real estates taxes.

Personal property is assessed based on business tax returns that are required to be filed between February 15 and April 30 each year. Any returns received after April 30^th are assessed a penalty. One 45-day extension may be granted if a request is received in writing before the April 30^th deadline. The Tax Commissioner is responsible for administering the personal property tax laws; the County Auditor serves as a deputy for the Tax Commissioner in this capacity.

The County Auditor acts as an agent for the Tax Commissioner of Ohio. Estate tax returns are to be filed within 9 months of the date of death. The monies collected from this source are distributed by law to the State of Ohio and to the taxing district (township or village) in which the decedent had resided or owned property.

The Auditor’s office is the focal point in the County for the issuing of licenses for dogs, kennels, vendors, cigarettes, and junkyards.

• Dog licenses (over 6,000 of them) comprise the largest number of licenses sold. The annual dog registration is a service designed to benefit the animal, its owner and the community.

• Kennel licenses are for keepers of dogs for the purposes of breeding or hunting. Five kennel licenses are standard but additional tags may be purchased as needed.

• Vendor licenses authorize businesses to sell tangible property to the public. Sales tax is collected on the sale of this property; part of this tax is returned for use by the local government.

• Cigarette licenses authorize places of business to sell cigarettes.

• Junkyard licenses require an inspection by the local sheriff’s office before the permit can be issued.

 

The County Auditor is the sealer of weights and measures for the entire County, thus protecting the general public from possible losses which may occur from faulty measuring devices, such as scales and pumps. She is charged with the responsibility of insuring that all State laws relating to weights and measures are strictly enforced. One method of enforcement is performing “spot-checks” on prepackaged items to test the accuracy of the weight of the contents.