The accepted rule of thumb when it comes to property reassessments is that roughly one-third of properties will see their assessment increase, one-third will see their assessment decrease and one-third will see their assessment stay the same.

But what happens when some of the one-third of properties that increases end up seeing their assessments decreased after an appeal? To some – particularly those who have fought the property reassessment since the process was approved a few years ago – it could mean the entire process was handled incorrectly by the county’s hired contractor, Vision Government Solutions.

We should say that in our opinion, the countywide property reassessment was necessary.

We thought that was the case before the reassessment took place and that remains the case today. No one likes taxes, and no one likes a process that can result in paying more in taxes. But the process itself is relatively uncontroversial, especially if it’s done on a regular basis rather than once every few decades.

Since Warren County had fallen into that latter group, however, it’s fair to raise a question now that the results are in – did Vision Government Services do a good job? It’s worth asking after hearing, from the last Warren County Commissioners meeting, that 2,480 property assessment appeals were heard at the local level following last year’s reassessment. Of those, 2,191 resulted in reductions to property values while 61 cases have been filed with the Court of Common Pleas and are currently being processed.

So, of the 2,480 appeals challenges brought, 88.3% were successful while 61 remain outstanding. Perhaps those really were the only 2,480 assessments that were blatantly too high. Or perhaps Vision Government Services was a bit overzealous in its new property assessments and too few Warren County residents took the opportunity to contest their assessments. Not all of those successful appeals, we note, ended up reducing their assessment to prior levels. But they were successful in reducing their new assessments.

It’s too late now to challenge the assessments for this year. But we think those who were on the fence about challenging their assessments before last year’s deadline may feel differently after learning that nearly 90% of those who challenged their assessments were successful. We wonder if there will be a second wave of assessment appeals when the next opportunity to appeal assessments arrives this year.