TOLEDO, Ohio — After months of frustration and confusion over rising property tax bills, Lucas County is beginning to make things right. Starting this week, the county auditor’s office is mailing letters to homeowners whose property values were incorrectly assessed. For many, those letters will include refund checks.
More than 7,100 residents registered by the March 31 deadline to contest their property assessments, and hearings will continue through the fall as part of a large-scale effort to resolve widespread valuation disputes.
The problems began last year when many homeowners noticed unexpected spikes in their tax bills, sometimes amounting to hundreds of extra dollars annually. As complaints mounted, the county discovered two key issues: a glitch in the auditing software and a sharp, legitimate rise in property values across Toledo…