The Franklin County Auditor’s office recently announced that Hilliard saw a 4.2-percent drop in residential property values. Overall, the county saw a 6.7-percent decrease.

Hilliard residents wishing to contest their new tentative property values can do so at an Informal Value Review from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, at the Makoy Center, 5462 Center St. There are four more reviews, including the last one, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Raymond Memorial Reception House, 3860 Trabue Road.

For more information on the sessions, visit www.franklincountyauditor.com/review-locator or call 614-525-HOME (4663).

“We invite all property owners to come to one of these informal value reviews and sit down in a one-on-one setting with an appraiser to discuss the value of their property,” auditor Clarence Mingo said. “Bringing along supporting information, be it comparable sales or a recent appraisal, will help our appraisers most accurately value the owner’s property.”

All property values will be finalized in November for use in the December tax billing.

Susan Wainfor, an HER realtor in Hilliard, said she’s been getting a lot of calls from people wanting to contest their values.

“Obviously, the auditor hasn’t been inside the home, so it’s kind of hard for them to judge what’s been finished inside, if they’ve got hardwood floors, if they’ve got the granite countertops,” Wainfor said.

Some people who were told their property values were raised are seeking a lower valuation so they can pay lower taxes. Wainfor advised against it.

“If you’re going to be selling within five years, definitely do not ask to have your value go down,” Wainfor said. “It would behoove them to just keep it the way it is if they’re thinking about selling. We’ve had people in the past who have fought it and got their values down, but when they went to sell it, they don’t think it’s a fair value, either. You either have to pay your higher taxes, or you’re going to take less for it when you go to sell it.”

Wainfor said the Hilliard area hasn’t been hit as hard as some other Franklin County communities. For example, the worst was Whitehall, where values dropped by 20.04 percent.

Franklin County isn’t the only place that has seen property values drop. Lorene Hetherington, a Realtor with Keller Williams, said, “Las Vegas and other parts of the southwest, they’re seeing much more significant drops.”

Hetherington said she owns two properties in Hilliard, and one saw a drop in property value, while the other increased.

“I kind of look at it as a double-edged sword,” Hetherington said. “On the one property, I was jumping for joy because it actually meant my taxes were going down, so I was ecstatic about it. The other one, when it went up, I’m happy it went up, but my taxes are going up, too.”

What happened to your values determines whether you should challenge them, Hetherington said.

“Are you going to sit there for a while in your house in Hilliard? Then a drop in value means a drop in taxes. Count your blessings, it’s a good day. If you’re selling next year, and you bought last year at $200,000 and your tax guy says $185,000 is your value, you might want to É fight that.

“At the end of the day, that’s what the county thinks your home is worth,” she said. “That is not necessarily what a buyer is going to think your house is worth. The market will always tell you what your house is worth, and the market is not the Franklin County Auditor, it is buyers.”

Having lower property values doesn’t always mean paying lower taxes, though, said Norwich Township administrator Wayne Warner.

“Let’s say your appraisal went down 4 percent. Your actual taxes may not go down at all,” Warner said. “What it is that it’s a catch-up over the valuation of your property: If you bought the property in 1970 for $30,000 and it’s now worth $200,000, you’ve got all that equity there. So if the value does go down slightly, you’re still ahead of the game.”

Michelle Kelly-Underwood, Hilliard finance director, said property taxes are part of the general fund, and she estimates its revenue on annual basis.

“I used a 5.6-percent decrease from the previous year, because that’s what the auditor had been anticipating would happen to city of Hilliard’s values,” Underwood said. “I’m going to continue to use the 5.6 number, which is about $75,000 less than what we’re getting this year. When I do the revenue estimate for 2012, I’ll just assume that property tax is going to be down that amount of money.”

The county’s lower property values’ biggest impact is on local school districts like Hilliard’s.

“I am estimating that the drop in residential values will cost the district roughly $1 million annually in property taxes based on our current levies,” district treasurer Brian Wilson said.

“A new levy will generate about $90,000 less per mill. This means the November 5.9-mill levy will generate approximately $500,000 less than it would have prior to the reduction of residential values.”

However, Wilson said he already accounted for the reduction in property values so the district won’t have to go back to the voters for at least three years if the levy passes.

“I included the reduction in value in our projections,” Wilson said. “I actually was factoring an 8-percent reduction in values in last year’s five-year forecast. When the auditor’s office told me it would be less than a 5-percent reduction in residential values, that actually improved our forecast.”