Real estate developer shocked over increased property tax due to new policy
A Trumbull County residential developer believes he's being unfairly taxed. Jason Altobelli has two undeveloped parcels of land that he's owned for more than a decade. This year, out of the blue, he says property taxes on them more than tripled.
“It’s only our properties that have been targeted and selectively enforced,” Altobelli told 21 News. “It's a policy that every business or every developer should be concerned about because of the uncertainty.”
That new policy from the Trumbull County Auditor went from being taxed based on empty land to now setting the value of the property to how many homes could be built there in the future.
“They said that because we marketed proposed lots online and because they noticed some trees were removed,” Altobelli said about the exploitation he got from the auditor's office.
Altobelli said he paid the tax but doesn’t feel he should be charged based on the idea of putting houses somewhere before they’re even created. He added that if the policy isn’t changed, building new homes in the county would be a challenge.
“To the point where development could stall,” Altobelli said. “The fear is if that’s the new policy and there’s other projects we’re working on and those policies are then carried forward to us on those, the projects become very challenging financially and not feasible.”
Auditor Martha Yoder said in a statement that her team explained how they established the value to Altobelli in February and told him he was allowed to file a complaint with the Board of Revision. Yoder said she stands behind her employee’s appraisal of the property.
Full statement from Trumbull County Auditor Martha Yoder:
“First, it is important point out that the Auditor does not tax property-the Auditor sets the value of the property to be taxed. When values increase, taxes do increase. While Mr. Altobelli’s voiced concern is over his taxes, his actual complaint is how his property was valued. Mr. Altobelli addressed that concern to my staff back in February. At that time, my team explained how we established the value and also that he was welcome to file a Board of Revision complaint which is virtually the only legal path to value changes once final values have been established. His window for filing the complaint ended March 31, 2025. Rather than follow the statutory process which he utilized in the past, Mr. Altobelli chose instead to try to pressure my office into making the change in violation of the law by expressing his complaints to anyone who would listen- up to and now including the Commissioners. I stand behind my employee’s appraisal of the property.”
21 News asked Yoder what the explanation for the increase was and she said "the values of the parcels was set at what the appraiser in his professional opinion believed would be market value" and added "... this property is NOT valued as 'though fully developed homes are there', but at a value based on the market for the property."