001So, notice how this meeting was It looks good. Yep. Okay. Notice how this meeting was given in accordance with the provisions of Bylaw 0164B of the Riverside Local Board of Education, which was adopted in accordance with Section 1.450 of the ORC and Ohio Administration Administrative Procedures Act. Will you please call roll? Ms. Panensky Here. Mrs. Grassi Here. Mr. Ardino Here. Mr. Dyer Here. Mr. Byers Here. Okay. Can we stand for the pledge? I pledge allegiance >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So, that brings us to the Board of Education business. So, um Authori- There's a motion to authorize filing of a complaint against evaluation of real property tax real property for
002tax year 2025 against permanent parcel number 11-A-014-0-00-004-0. I'll give it a second. Second. Thank you. And any discussion? Um Can I ask why we're doing this? So, under Ohio law, which changed fairly recently, each Board of Education is required, in the advance in advance of filing a complaint against valuation seeking an increase, um based on a recent sale, that the Board of Education actually approve the filing of that complaint prior to its filing. But, do we are we allowed to talk about like the devaluation? I'm just curious. What is the valuation cuz I looked up the I looked up the personal. Um. I wanted to see where it was and what not and so you know where it Yeah, it's a it's it's next to is it a building? Is there a building on it?
003It's next to It's a it's a new building next to Target. I think it is Popeye's. Yes, it is. I can find that information here shortly. Hold on for one second. David Rose at my office. It's a vacant lot Popeye's. There was it was a blank it was a vacant lot with the old vacant lot Popeye's. Yeah, I saw that. Okay. You built a Popeye's on it and it's substantially more value. Yes. And what is what while you're doing that can I ask like what is valuation increase the next time they have rebels? So so the current value is I looked it up but I don't remember. I'm sorry. So yeah, it's at 402 East High Street. I'm sorry, that's the owner 402 East High Street DDL LLC at 2168 Venture Ave. Um the current
004appraised value was $723,920. And the sale price is And it increased in value in 2025 because they added a building. Okay. Um it had been appraised at $428,000 without the building. Um prior to that, it was in 2023 valued at um to I'm sorry, 600,000 um for several years. And then before that, it had been lower. So, it's been increasing slowly. And then the property recently transferred. And so, this complaint is to ask the county to increase the value of the property to reflect the recent sale price. Of seven something. >> Um no, it's I think it was a million and a half. Okay. I think that's what I wasn't clear on cuz I think >> Yeah. they You're saying it was 600,000 in 2023, and it was appraised for 723, but sold for over
005a million. Is that what we're saying? Right. They made improvements to the property. There were several building permits that were issued during 2025 calendar year. Um one was for a million five um value. And then there was a a second one issued for $50,000. Um so, the sale price, we believe, reflects those improvement values. And so, the county doesn't um catch up with those valuation changes in real time. So, we have the ability to come in and ask the county to increase them before the county would go through its normal process of updating values, which takes place every 3 years. And will they include the value of the build Are we including the value of the building? Yes. Okay. So, in the past, um uh prior to this um change at the state level, um
006it was just kind of a blanket thing that you would go and challenge on behalf of the district. So, it was a Yes. Uh it was a blanket resolution that the board would pass at its organizational meeting each January, which would authorize your treasurer to work with legal counsel to review all transactions and decide what transactions warranted evaluation increase complaints, and then to file that. The state of Ohio has taken a very close look in recent history, as you probably know, about the practice that school districts have engaged in to file evaluation increases. And so, part of their um part of the legislative changes that occurred a couple of years ago was to say, "We're not sure that boards really are fully informed as to what's happening between their treasurers and their legal counsel on
007the filing of these complaints. So, we want to add a step to the process that requires the board of education to pass a specific resolution authorizing the complaint itself." The resolution does not get attached to the complaint, uh but rather it's maintained in our files as a part of your permanent record. If anyone should ask for it, we would provide it. And typically, are you um looking at it each one, but then determining which ones are vastly different >> Yes. >> to challenge versus little Okay. We do not challenge little cases. The law requires us to follow a standard where the value is increased by um approximately $500,000 in order to have a complaint filed. So, that was one of the other safeguards that the General Assembly put in place a couple of years ago.
008Okay. Because I I think the perception was that school districts were routinely challenging nominal Mhm. increases. So, a value might increase by $25,000 and the school district would come in and file a complaint. Mhm. And you can imagine that that's could be a lot of transactions. It's a lot of complaints were filed. So, the General Assembly essentially limited your rights to authorize the filing of these complaints to only the large cases. In your experience doing this for us, how often are we successful? Um uh often. So, um in Ohio, the best evidence of value is considered a recent transaction, open market, willing buyer, willing seller. Um that has not changed. That has been the sort of the legal and factual standard for a long time. We only look at open market transactions. We go through
009the um conveyances that occurred during a calendar year. We look at each one. We find evidence that in fact there was a conveyance. We pull the deed. We also pull the conveyance fee statement that is filed for every transaction in the county whether it's subject to the transfer tax or not. And we verify through both of those methods that there has been a transaction um that would warrant an increased complaint. So, it's based on public records. Not based on listing agreements or MLS uh data points that you can find on the internet like through uh what is it? Redfin and Trulia, some of those other services that um show uh transactions. We actually go to the county records and pull all that. We then compare all of those sale prices to the current values. And
010we pull out only those that have um a a legal basis that is that it's a substantial increase in the value. We then investigate it further. We subscribe to several um basically online platforms that provide sales data so we confirm it that way as well and and then we share with Dr. Rotino, Dr. Thompson and we ask that they consider filing the complaint. We have some conversation about it and then a resolution is prepared for the board's consideration. So are we currently involved in any litigation regarding this topic with other properties? So we also So the answer is yes. Um we also file what are called counter complaints. Counter complaints are where a property owner files a complaint to lower the value. I see. In those cases we have certain statutory rights to essentially enter
011into that proceeding to say we would like to submit evidence or at least have the opportunity to submit evidence to substantiate the auditor's current value. Keep in mind that the district doesn't set any values whether they're too high, just right or too low. But we have the burden to try to substantiate those values or substantiate an increase in those values. So we have several cases that are currently pending from last year that are on appeal. Typically the appeals go to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals. So we have several of those. As you might remember we had quite a few property owners who filed for a reduction in value last year. Um in fact, it was a record year. I think we had approximately 185 cases um dealing with property owners that filed to reduce
012the value of their property. And the board authorized us to go through that process. Our goal is always and has been for as long as I've represented the district that nobody's property should be overvalued, but nobody's property should be undervalued either. And so, we submit evidence based on market transactions that are are relevant to the setting of value, whether it's an increase or whether someone's asking for a reduction. So, if a homeowner files for a reduction and they say my home is worth $100,000 less than the auditor has valued it, we look at all the sales in that neighborhood. County establishes neighborhoods. It's not necessarily your own neighborhood. It's a valuation neighborhood. And we look at those transactions. We then present those to the County Board of Revision in the hearing. And ultimately, the Board
013of Revision makes the decision as to whether the value should stay the same, go up, or go down. Um and then, if the case is appealed, we have certain rights to join that appeal. However, the law, one of the legal changes from a couple of years ago, was that we really have only very limited rights to appeal the decision ourselves. But if the property owner appeals, we have the ability to participate. And so, really what we try to do is assist the county in coming up with the right value by submitting evidence. Sometimes we'll hire an appraiser in those cases that warrant that kind of expense. And the appraiser will do a market analysis um of the property, prepare a report with an actual valuation conclusion, and we'll submit that as well. So, what did
014we do in this case because there was there's a building there now. There wasn't a building there previously. How did we How did we determine what the value is that we're asking for? So, we we base it solely on the transaction price, the sale price. So, it Of the land because that didn't include a building. But well, it We believe it did. We believe it was There was the land value. There were the improvements. They were completed and then it was >> Oh, and then it was sold. But if it turns out in the course of the hearing that there was some other wrinkle, some other aspect that wouldn't justify an increase for the tax year, then um we would either withdraw our complaint or the Board of Revision would just rule against us and
015establish what value they thought was appropriate, which could be a no change decision. Um but the you know, the the market data is strong and we don't We We never bring a case where we just look at a building and say, "Oh, we think you're much higher." We Our Our appraiser says you're much higher or the building next door sold for a lot more and so yours should increase, too. We only file complaints or ask the Board to approve the filing of complaints where there's a transaction that would warrant that increase in value. So, so 1.5 Is that including equipment in this build? Like if it's a Popeyes So, it's possible that it does and any non-realty would be excluded from the transaction. None was reported in the transaction. On the conveyance fee statement, there
016is a line item where a property owner can say certain items of non-realty were a part of this transaction and the value of those non-realty items is X, so that should be um um subtracted from the sale price. Um oftentimes even sophisticated property owners did not avail themselves of that right that they have to exclude it on the conveyance fee statement. Um but at the hearing, they will bring that information up and the Board of Revision will essentially ask for an itemized report of those non-realty items and a value associated with each of those items so that it can be excluded. And again, you know, we we believe that everyone should pay their fair share, no more and no less, and that certainly includes non-realty items because even in the sale of a home, someone
017will say there's a refrigerator, there's um lawn care equipment, there's um other non-realty items, and all of that will be taken into account when establishing the value. Your your Lake County Board of Revision is very good. Um they're conscientious, um but they're also um careful not to um extend beyond where they believe the facts would support it. They're They're not the type of Board of Revision that just rubber stamps each school district's complaint, nor do they rubber stamp each property owner's complaint. They take a hard look at everything. Um they conduct um in-person hearings. Um they require the submission of evidence, um and then they'll ultimately make the determination. Any other discussion? When are these due? Today's the last day. >> Today, that's why we're meeting this morning. So, thank you. Thank you very very
018much. So, any any any other ones that come up we can't do until next Right. Like this is the cut off. This is the cut off. Okay, thank you. Take the roll. Mrs. Krenensky? Aye. Mrs. Grassy? Aye. Mr. Idino? Aye. Ms. Brewster? Aye. Mr. Byers? Aye. Motion carries five vote. Brings us to the next meeting announcements of the work session April 9th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Policy Committee meeting April 14th at 7:00 a.m. Curriculum and Programming Committee meeting at on April 15th at 7:30 a.m. Finance Personnel Committee meeting on April 16th Excuse me, at 7:00 a.m. Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting April 21st at 7:30 a.m. and our Board meeting is April 23rd at 6:00 p.m. Um make a motion to adjourn at 7:48 a.m. I need a second. Second. Thank you. And can you
019call the roll? Mr. Byers? Aye. Ms. Brewster? Aye. Mr. Idino? Aye. Mrs. Grassy? >> Aye. Mrs. Krenensky? Aye. Second.