Owners can challenge property values, but not the taxes
I appreciate Ohio Auditor Keith Faber highlighting in a guest opinion column published in The Dispatch last week that property owners should check their new property value and file a complaint with their county board of revision by April 1 if they disagree with the value. However, he didn’t explain that taxes cannot be directly challenged since they are set based on levies voters have approved and on state law.
Auditor Faber also failed to mention that when he was a state senator, he voted to raise property taxes, including limiting eligibility and the benefit amount of the Homestead Exemption. He also voted to strip rollbacks from new levies and slashed state funds for local government, which, in turn, increased reliance on property taxes for critical services.
Going forward, I hope Faber will join county auditors and others working to change state law to protect homeowners, which is something that can only be accomplished by working with the state legislature.
John Oyster, Columbus
Ohio auditor:‘We feel the pain’ but can’t do anything about property tax strain. Here’s why.
Is ‘Galentine’s Day’ the next Festivus?
Could “Galentine’s Day” become the next Festivus?
“Feets of strength” for who can buy the most shoes?
A “Galentine pole” for pole dancing?
It will be a “Galentine’s Day miracle” if I do not receive an airing of grievances for this letter.
Syd Lifshin, Columbus
Galentine’s events in Columbus:Snag your sweetie or grab your gal pals for these Valentine’s and Galentine’s events
Ohio GOP supermajority in race to bottom of states
Has anyone else noticed that increasingly Ohio is getting front page publicity in leading national newspapers? Any time I see an Ohio headline in one of them, I begin to quiver in embarrassment as it is never good news.
We seem to have become the poster child for anything regressive in a race with other states to the bottom, sharing space with such luminaries as Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Our state politics and policies are such that it is no wonder we continue to lose population and why young people do not seek to come here.
Something on your mind?Submit a letter to the editor for The Columbus Dispatch.
Since legislators don’t wish to wake up (remember that the opposite of ‘woke’ is ‘asleep’), then voters need to wake up! I can’t decide whether we’ve become the laughing stock or the pariah state of the nation. Either way, we stand to lose big time when it comes to projecting ourselves as a place people want to live. Why would they? Currently, our politics suggest that people are served best by running from Ohio. With active opposition to improving the health, education and voting rights of its citizens, the current GOP supermajority is nailing the lid on the coffin of Ohio’s potential future.
Well done!
Patrice Rancour, Columbus
Library board misusing patron email to discourage union
A recent letter to patrons (via email) from Upper Arlington Public Library Board President Peter W. Hahn on staff unionization efforts is alarming. Hahn portrays the board’s initiatives as solely beneficial while subtly discouraging any need for unionization.
Delivering this message to patrons through the library’s email account is a direct misuse of taxpayer-funded resources to push the board’s one-sided narrative and exert undue public pressure on the staff they claim to respect. This action undermines the staff’s right to organize and leverages public communication tools to sway opinion under the guise of transparency. It’s crucial to respect the staff’s autonomy in decision-making without pressure from library leadership. If the staff chooses to unionize, those in opposition, including Hahn, should reassess their positions on this board.
Andrew Mackey, Upper Arlington
