Ohio’s CAUV case will stay in court, but trial not until 2018

A group of Ohio landowners who are hoping the courts can bring some relief to their farm real estate taxes will keep their case before a Franklin County judge. In the initial lawsuit, the landowners argued that the state determined CAUV values based on crop commodities — like corn, soybeans and wheat — and neglected to take into consideration acres that grow other crops, such as grapes, woodlands or pastureland, or are not suited to grow crops. “Basically, they (state officials) used the rise in commodity prices as an excuse for the fact that they changed other parts,” said Roberts. The plaintiffs argued that Ohio’s CAUV law requires rates to be determined according to different “land use patterns,” which include livestock, timberland and pastureland, in addition to “cropping.” The parties have about a year to complete case discovery, and a trial date is set for February, 2018.