JEFFERSON, Ohio — Farmers and landowners in Ashtabula County may have a surprise in store when they open up their 2015 property tax bills this coming January due to another increase in the Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) values.
To help property owners understand these increases, a “CAUV Rates are Increasing” meeting will be held Aug. 28, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the EXPO Center of the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds in Jefferson.
This meeting will feature Larry Gearhardt, OSU Extension Income Tax Field Specialist. Established in 1972, CAUV allows qualified agricultural land to be valued at its current agricultural use value ‘for real property tax purposes rather than fair market value.
Unlike fair market value appraisals, CAUV values are calculated by the State of Ohio Department of Taxation by a formula that is based on five factors which are: yield information, cropping patterns, crop prices, non-land production costs and the capitalization rate.
All of these factors are included in a basic formula that determines the current agriculture use value of the land, differentiating between the 3,514 different soil types here in Ohio.
CAUV rates are updated every three years and current rates were updated because of the state-mandated sexennial reappraisal. Attend this meeting to learn why your CAUV rates will rise significantly again.
Participants will learn how the minimum values for crop land have increased.
This factor in junction with increase crop prices, yields and a lower capitalization have created a perfect storm for our CAUV rates to increase. Attend this meeting so you are not blind-sided when you open your tax statement in January 2015.
These increases may affect your land rental agreements in 2015. There is no registration fee for this program; however pre-registration is requested so that adequate program handouts can be made.
To register, call the Ashtabula County Farm Bureau at 1-800-410-4613. A program flier can be found at: http://go.osu.edu/ne-events.
