A letter from Preble County Auditor Lavon Wright to residents

0

Editor:

As the County Auditor, I am required by the State of Ohio to check the accuracy of property information in the County every six years. In Preble County, this “Revaluation Process” (REVAL) will involve data collectors visiting every property in the County to verify the property information. They will be taking photographs of every structure on your property. The photos will be used by our Appraisers to help determine values for the 2017 Revaluation. The collectors will not be coming inside your buildings. The collectors will have 2 types of identification identifying that they are working on this particular project. Their vehicles will also be marked as County Appraiser. This project is completed in phases and you will receive a letter with information about your specific property and when they will be working in your district area. I appreciate your understanding during this project and thank you for helping us improve the accuracy of the information we have regarding your property. Accuracy is the key to this project.

I would also like to invite you to my website www.preblecountyauditor.org. Please use my website to review your property information at any time. If you find problems or have questions you can call 937-456-8131. I have also added a new feature to our website called “Tax Estimator”. This will allow you to get Tax Estimates for improvements or additions that you may be thinking about making to your property or taxes on a newly split property. I understand that budgets are tight and want to help provide as many tools as I can to help you plan your future on these projects.

Lastly, I would like to inform you that, The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) in cooperation with the County Auditor’s Association of Ohio (CAAO), who are dedicated to promoting uniformity in weights and measures and equity in the marketplace, presented certificates to participants in the ODA/W&M training course. The course was designed to provide comprehensive technical training in the area of weights and measurement enforcement and administration. During the Awards ceremony help at the Ohio Department of Agriculture/Division of Weights and Measures training, Preble County Inspectors Sean Maggard and Mauri Miles, were recognized for their participation and successful completion of all or part of the course. So, at this time my office has two Certified Inspectors in Weights and Measures. Our Inspectors have been checking scales and gas pumps all summer. Most recently though, they have been inspecting for credit card skimmers. These Debit/Credit card skimmers have not been found in Preble County, but have been found in surrounding counties which is a concern. Debit/Credit card skimmers are small electronic devices that can be installed inside a gas pump to steal card information from unsuspecting consumers. The devices are wired to the card reader and key pad and can record account numbers and PIN’s when a customer swipes their card at the pump. Data obtained by these devices can be used to create bogus cards to access a consumer’s bank account. Victims of these scams have lost thousands without any knowledge of the theft. Inspections by our County officials only go so far in preventing these thefts. The new chip debit/credit cards are much safer and they make it much harder for your information to be stolen. Other things you can do are to never pay at the pump, monitor your bank and credit card statements routinely, or just pay cash for your purchases. If you believe you are a victim of a skimmer scam notify your local law enforcement as well as your bank immediately.

One last reminder is that Dog Licenses can still be purchased until Sunday, Jan 31. Please make sure that you take care of purchasing by the deadline to avoid penalties.

Thank you for your time, and on behalf of the Preble County Auditor’s staff and myself, Have a happy and safe 2016!

Lavon Wright

PC Auditor

No posts to display