Mike Stinziano, Franklin County Auditor

Property taxes are going through the roof. This is the guy with some answers about why and what to do to get some relief. www.FranklinCountyAuditor.com 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
He is. Yes, I know, a Democrat, but he's a good
Democrat. Now. I say thatevery single time I've had him in his
studio with me. As a matterof fact, while I was doing the
Old FM talk show, my firstshow, my first guest was this guy.
He serves well, he has servedfor a long time, a member
of the state legislature, a memberof the Columbus City snake pit my words,

(00:20):
not his. And now he servesas your Franklin County auditor. Yes,
the people that administer the property taxes. And that's why he's at the
studio with me right now. MichaelSinziano, thank you, thank you,
thank you for being here a pittireto see it. You are probably not
leading a charmed life right now.With the number of phone calls and emails
and so forth coming in about propertytaxes, it has been a challenge,

(00:41):
but it's also a great opportunity toeducate property owners members of Franklin County of
what that process is. The Auditor'sOffice is unique in that we are truly
an administrative office, so we arecreated by statute. So when we do
get questions about process about values,encourage people to contact the propriate folks that
may be able to make a change, which would be their general simply members

(01:03):
something people don't I don't think graspand I, because I like you,
I don't want to make sure I'mreally clear about this. The Auditor's office
collects data and then administers that dataas the law requires. Okay, they
don't decide what the house is worth. Somebody else does that. And they

(01:25):
take that data and then take thetax calculations. Here's here's what our tax
rate is in the county, andapply it to what that data tells them.
He doesn't do it, so ifyou see him at the grocery store,
there will be no yelling in theproduce department. Okay, it says
it's not something that you know.He goes home at night and just arbitrarily

(01:45):
watches a little Netflix thing, goesI'm gonna raise these taxes over here.
But I think most people perceive thatbecause unfortunately civics. Civics is a lost
art. We don't understand the wayour government works at pretty much every level,
and it needs to be explained,sometimes in silly fashion to make sure
people get it. What he is. And I'm sure you've looked over all

(02:06):
these numbers, what is the mostextreme case that you have seen in Franklin
County as far as a jump inproperty tax rates? Well, so it's
it's always going to depend. Propertytaxes are thirty five percent of the auditor's
valuation, So that's the piece wherewe are statually required to go out every
six years with a three year incrementand update values. We have seen big

(02:28):
jumps across the county. On average, values increased forty one percent. Taxes
just on that valuation piece, onaverage we're going to go up just six
percent, So it's not a onefor one in Franklin County after a number
of two levies in particular past thatdoubled that property tax and that's when we're
hearing and people have really woken up. So in terms of what is the

(02:50):
most extreme jump, I mean,there's a couple a group that have seen
one thousand dollars increases, but theyalso rese paid significantly more for what the
property was three years ago, andthat's what's somewhat being caught up along with
what value of the vote got approvedat the ballot box. So I mean,
again, you always have to understandwhenever and no matter how you feel

(03:15):
about them, facts are facts.When Columbus City School says we need one
hundred million dollars and you vote yes, your property tax goes up. I
know it shouldn't be that way.I know the legislature was told five hundred
and seventy two years ago to changethat, but they haven't. So property
taxes still fund your public school system. That one hundred million dollars levee that
was passed that raised the taxes.When the library wants more money, raises

(03:38):
your taxes. When CODA wants moremoney, raises your taxes. And that
is not something that anybody controls butyou when you go to the ballot box.
So you know, love you meanit, but take some responsibility.
You have your part to play inthis thing too. The good news is
when it comes to property taxes,there is there is at least a path

(04:00):
to maybe some recourse. There arepublic meetings going on right now throughout the
month of March, I believe,and that you also have the opportunity to
either make an appointment or I believe, walk in at the auditor's office to
speak to people. That's called theBoard of Revision, where you can go
in and make your case for hey, my house is not worth anywhere near
this, and try to get thosetaxes reduced. First of all, let's

(04:23):
start with those meetings. How frequentare they? So what's important is it's
the values that the auditor's office canlook at. And so we have been
holding and we're going to hit thirtyby April first. That's the big deadline
that is coming up. The Aprilfirst deadline to challenge your property value.
If you're upset just with property taxes, that's not enough to change your property

(04:44):
value. But since we don't goinside a home, if there's interior deterioration,
if you have a third party appraisal, if there's other recent sales that
you feel as an office we shouldbe looking at to make an adjustment.
That's the supplemental information that we needthat can impact that value. Thirty five
percent of which your taxing district couldimpact change in property taxes. So April

(05:06):
first is the deadline. We areat a number of locations the mobile events
can be are meant to be walking. So we're at Howard Element or Howard
rec Center yesterday, We're gonna beat Driving Park tomorrow, and then a
number of locations. Again, leadingup to that April first deadline, can
you get the Franklin County Auditor dotcom and get a list to the meetings

(05:28):
you can, And you can alsofile online. So up until April first,
you can file at any time.You don't need to schedule, you
don't need to meet with a personacross the table at if you're ready,
if you know what you feel thevalue should be, I encourage you to
file. So you don't even haveto leave your video games in your basement.
You can get online, you know, just put it on palls and
do it at the basement. Youknow, as you say, you don't

(05:50):
go inside the houses. What I'mnot in here. I'm doing my damn
just to sell real estate, youknow as well as I do. We
been in a ridiculous inflationary period whenit comes to sales prices. We had
almost no inventory. I was gettinginto MLS a year ago looking desperately for
houses for buyers. Now Columbus.You know, we've got roughly a million

(06:13):
million one in the metro, theCentral Ohio metro. At this point,
I get up, get into MLSand look at single family freestanding homes that
were active on the market and they'relike seven hundred. There's no way you
cannot have inflated prices when you gotone point one million people and seven hundred
pieces of chicken on the table.Man, So prices went up, then

(06:36):
started experiencing some economic problems. Mortgagerates went up that slowed the market even
more. What's that mean? Thatmeans fewer people are listing their houses again,
So prices again either go up orat least maintain their high point.
But in times of prosperity, whendear Lord in Heaven, please make it

(06:57):
happen, interest rates come down,inventory gets higher, capitalism rolls ahead like
the monster it can be. Thesehomes are not going to hold the values
that they are having right now.Is there any kind of process where they
are reappraised in is? Do wehave to wait another six years or how
does that work? Because if theycome back down, I'd hate to see

(07:19):
people paying four or five years ofhigher tax yees. So it's an every
three year process. So the masteryappraisal is the big one that occurs every
six years. Then we have athree year increment looking at what's going on
in real estate and updating at thesame time, we can always do annual
maintenance. So if there are factorsgoing on, I would encourage people to

(07:40):
contact our office and we can givethat a look. But as we started
off, it's the Department taxation thatreally sets the values that we administer.
We had conversations going back to twentytwenty of we are concerned about inflationary prices,
people over pay. We hear fromrealtors. My client's over pain.
I know it, but that's theonly way they're going to get this house,

(08:00):
getting that school district. But ahigher Supreme court law, a recent
sales the best determination of value,and so you've got otters value, you've
got what's going on in the market, and trying to find a fair and
equitable amount is the challenge that asan otter's office we're trying to establish.
But a property owner homeowner plays ahuge role in working with us to get
to that number. There are somany factors that people don't consider when you

(08:24):
talk about the valuation. The partof crime. Crime is a big deal.
I've lost clients over the past coupleof years where they may find a
home, they love the home,it's in a nice neighborhood, and people
are walking their dogs and riding bicycles. But two streets over, you know
there's heroin and hookers and trash inthe streets. And there's no possible way.
I know in my heart as ahuman being, the money they're ready

(08:48):
to pay for that house, it'snot going to hold that. They are
going to be in the bucket onthis thing in a couple of years.
And I tell them that, butthey want that house really badly, so
they call somebody else and they buythe house. I lose a check,
but better at night. You haveto understand that the value of a home
is not just an arbitrary figure.You cannot say this much house is worth

(09:11):
these dollars. A house is wortha what someone is willing to pay you
for it, b what a financialinstitution is willing to lend that person to
buy it. If it doesn't meetthose two criteria, they can offer you
forty seven million. If the banksays one to seventy five max. That's
it. That's it. The valuationprocess is very difficult, and it's not

(09:33):
as black and white as some ofthese HGTV shows and so forth make you
believe. So understand that there's athere is an art and a science and
a strong degree of patience that isrequired in this this valuation process. And
if you want to do the attemptat the Board of Revision and have them
look it's I'm quite sure it's notan instant process. It's probably kind of

(09:54):
tedious, but you have to getthat appeal in no later than April first.
Well, it is tedious because againour friends at the General Assembly have
created a thirty day weight period,so once you file, we have to
sit on it for thirty days.That's allow the taxing entities, school districts,
different boards potentially to counterclaim if they'reso inclined. For residential property.

(10:20):
We don't see a lot of counterclaims, but it is their right, and
so we have to wait thirty daysso that there is frustration both on the
Otter's office and property owners that hey, I filed, what's the next step,
And unfortunately it's we're going to bein touch with the end of a
couple of weeks. Do you haveany interaction with the other government entities as
far as any changes any policy theymay plan, Like does the city call

(10:43):
you and say, hey, Mike, if we institute this tiff are we
going to do anything that is arbitrarilyjust negative for Franklin County? Or is
this budgetarily from your perspective, isthis okay? Do you get any input
there at all? We do notnothing. We do not wow. Now,
the Otter's Office serves as the statutorychair of all tax incentives across the

(11:07):
county, So I am the chairof the turk. That results in about
twenty three meetings annually where we doreview TIFFs abatements. But the turk,
as we ternam, it has noteeth. So if we say that's a
bad tiff, that's a bad abatement, it's not meaning the deal. We
can make that recommendation. It's upto that local municipality to then implement our
recommendation or they can extend it,they can change the terms. It's their

(11:33):
agreement with whatever the enity is.And so we are a turk without teeth.
Although we will do the annual review, and if you go to the
Otter's website, we have a reportthat we put out annually you can look
at the status of any tiff abatementacross the county. I don't want to
put you in an adversarial question herebut I just am I wrong in thinking

(11:54):
that because you do, I mean, you're the being counter you are you
keep tracking. Doesn't it make sensethat you would be part of any budgetary
process when it comes to tax incentives, building incentives, things like It just
seems logical to me that your officewould be called in on that. So

(12:15):
there's a budget commission. It's madeup of the treasure of the Oder and
the prosecutor. We do review whatis submitted, but again it is going
to be driven under a high lawto those local governments to make those determinations.
We also have the Turk Review andso there's conceptionally accountability of going on.
But any changes, any pushback,it is going to be determined and

(12:41):
decisions made at that local government level. All right, Again, Michael Cinciano's
in studio right now and he isyour Franklin County Auditor. The website if
you want to know more about theauditor's office, if you want to look
at the appeal process, anything likethat. Franklin County Auditor dot gov.
I'm sorry, dot com? Whyare you a dot com? A dot
gov vile? Well, that's justthe way the county government was. That's

(13:03):
what we inherited. Really it isso the emails are dot gov, the
websites dot com. I flob itall the time. We're government. We
know best, all right, thethe idea of future for you, because
you know, I'm I'm kind andI never hide what. I'm so open

(13:26):
with people, it's annoying sometimes.You were one of very few people of
your political ilk that has had asign in my yard. When you run,
when are you running again? Doyou have three years? Three years?
Okay? Maybe I have not determinedif I'm going to run for film.
And that's that's just just trying toget through this year. Because when
we met you were you were runningfor the state legislature and uh. And

(13:48):
then you came down from the legislatureto to Columbus City Council. You live
in Columbus and UH, and Ipraised you for that, for wanting to
make a difference on a more locallevel. I've told you very openly that
one of the things I do likeabout you most is your very old school.
You are so accessible to people andall the officers you've held to this

(14:11):
point. You call and he answersthe phone. You send an email to
auditor at Franklin County Auditor dot gov. You get an email back from him.
It's really cool that a politician isthat integrated and responsible to the people
that they're supposed to be representing andtaking care of on a political level.
So I've always admired that about you, and I'm assuming you learned that from

(14:35):
dear old dad and carrying on thefamily name. Well, but have you
thought about not just whether you're runningfor auditor again, but where is Michael
Stinziana on ten years? Do youwant to be a lifelong politician or do
you want to hang out a shingleand go be a lawyer or something for
a while. Well, so Ihad a shingle for a while. My
background's election loss the title thirty fiveof the revised Code, so I was

(14:56):
able to do that both at StateHouse on counsel I got an ethics opinion
and when I became auditor and thatwas a conflict, although now the Ethics
Commission has changed that opinion, soI don't know. I really appreciate the
opportunity to serve to try and improvethe offices that I've been in. It
is nice to be a caucus ofone at the Auditor's office, you know,

(15:18):
council, state House. Trying tobuild a coalition could be a challenge
depending on the day and the issue, but right now it's getting through making
sure we're working with property owners asbest we can. But I don't know
what the future holds. Yeah,getting people to work together right now.
I know it's difficult to even answerthat question because this this is not an

(15:39):
ideal era in which we live thethe extreme views to any side, and
I say any because it's not justleft and right. I say any side
of the political circle right now areare so annoying to well intentioned, moderate,
good hearted thinking people that it's difficultto say, yeah, I'm going
to run again, because man,it's it's it's hard to even say hello

(16:03):
to people without getting accused of somethinganymore. And that's a sad, sad
thing, because there was a timewhen we could all come to the table
and argue and pound our fists andmake our points and come to some sort
of conclusion and walk out of theroom and still be civil. And it's
just it's getting more and more difficultto do that at all. I'm not
just talking you know, Trump Bidenstuff. I'm talking at every level of

(16:26):
politics. It's it's becoming a littlemore sickening than maybe it's worth sometimes,
at least in my opinion. SoI hope that in some capacity you continue
to serve but appreciate that. Butyou're right, it has shifted. Yeah.
When I started knocking on doors adecade ago, it was you know,
tell me your platform, or peoplesharing their ideas of what they like

(16:47):
seeing their community. Now it's what'syour political affiliation? And then it turns
into a very different conversation than tryingto find solutions. Speaking of knocking on
doors ten years ago, I haveto ask you what are your beauty secrets?
Because you know, really seriously,dude, I'm looking at you.
You look the same as you didwhen we met a long, long time,
more gray here now you are justyour credit to mom, a credit

(17:11):
to mom, good jeans, gotgreat Cyota County Kuyoga County bloodlines for my
grandparents, and appreciate it every day. You're killing me with that face because
you're just such a baby face.And I look in the mirror in the
morning and I think I'm looking atmy dad because my brain is not nearly
as old as my body. Istell me about some other stuff at the

(17:33):
auditor's office that nobody ever talks about, but we should probably be telling people
about. So along with the propertyvalues, there's a homestead exemption to want
residents to be aware of that.There's no owner occupied credit, so make
sure people are getting the benefit thatexists in the law. And then really
there's two committees that are growing onat the State House that could be reforms.

(17:56):
We're shooting for big swings because thisprocess that we have to implement in
the Otnor's office that are impacting propertyowners at their kitchen table needs to change.
And so engaging with your member ofthe general simply letting them know how
the current process is impacting your householdis huge, and so really trying to

(18:17):
remind people this is the opportunity.All the state House members are on the
ballot, most of the state senatorsare, so it is a great chance
as those individuals are out seeking reelectionor election for the first time, to
ask for them to be leaders andreally change a hile on in this area.
Does you used to do Saturday mornings? You'd show up at the library

(18:41):
and I would get mad on yourbehalf A few times I would come in
and speak to you, but sometimesI wouldn't speak to you. I would
kind of, you know, goover in the reference sextor or something and
just watch because I wanted to seewhat my community was doing. And it
I don't know if it may bemore sad or angry, but you would
come in and put these hours into meet with anybody who had any questions

(19:03):
or problems, and you would bestanding there holding a baby and a bottle
of water and there was no oneto talk to. Is do you still
do that occasionally? And are yougetting any better results, any better turnout
than you used to? So westill do weekly community hours. Just notched
our two hundred and seventy first onein the Otter's office seven hundred and eleventh

(19:27):
since being a public official, sobeen around a little bit. We do
a hybrid now, so twice amonth it'll be virtual on Facebook Live.
We actually see more eyes participating,not a lot of engagement, but similar
to what I experienced both at theState House, at the city and now
at the county. Unless there's aspecific issue that's within a month really bothering

(19:49):
people, it's pretty quiet. Thereisn't as much engagement. But I understand
it's not easy to get down tothe county government building, and parking is
awful going through secure already going uptwenty first floors. I prefer to be
out in the community. There's anumber of cities, villages, townships across
the county, and so the opportunityto park myself there be accessible. I

(20:11):
went in trade, but always enjoyedthe participation, engagement more than just sitting
there working on my calendar, asI have unfortunately had to spend a great
deal of time in downtown Columbus thelast couple of months. That's something that
I have set every single trip.If the county listen, Commissioners, your
auditors on, I'm talking to him, so you should be listening to me.
If the county seriously wanted to investsome millions of dollars in something that

(20:36):
would pay back many more millions ofdollars, build some blasted parking garages,
find whatever property you can, andthen then you want to train, you
want to get build some tunnels.Give me a little subway path from the
parking garage facility, some massive countyparking garage. Stay and then put the
tray and bring it right up infront of the courthouse or whatever, so

(20:56):
I can get to all of thosecounty buildings in one fail swoop. Yes,
it would cost tens of millions ofdollars, but it over the next
decade would make you one hundred milliondollars very easily. There's no parking,
and it's ridiculous to let you knowthe private parties make all the money when
you could look, you're charging usto come down there. You never go
downtown to a government building without losingmoney. It's how it goes. So

(21:19):
you might as well get some morethrough parking fees. And I'd finally,
I'd be willing to pay it.I pay ten bucks to park in an
open lot, I'd pay ten bucksto park in a county parking structure.
So pass that along to your countypeople. And if the commissioners, now,
yeah, like they care, they'dsay, oh, here him again,
Yeah we don't care what he's said. What the reduction for owner occupancy,

(21:45):
which I'm always big on. Ifyou own the home and you live
in the home, that see,that's key. I get sick of people
taking this credit and they don't theywere using it as a rental property or
something, but if you own itand you live in it, you're entitled
to a two percent reduction in yourproperty tax period that there's no negotiating necessary.
It's a form is that also availableon the website. Absolutely. How

(22:07):
about the homestead credit sixty two yearsof age it's sixty five. Oh,
you got to be older now,okay. And also there's now an economic
component that was added back on fora little while it was gone. Trying
to modernize that through the General Assemblyso we see more older residents take advantage.
The economic piece has really been adetriment because it households it. So

(22:30):
if you're an individual, you kindof get a benefit. If you're a
couple, it's tougher, so youcan't have too much income and be over
sixty five where you can't qualify forthat credit. Correct, Okay. Any
other credits out there that may belittle known or not known that people should
know about, not through the Outeror'soffice. The one area that we continue
to encourage propery owners that are struggling. They see this property tax bills,

(22:52):
you can contact the Treasure's office andget on a payment plan program, so
instead of two lump sum bills,you can stretch it out over the year.
We find that to be a littlemore budget friendly for property owners and
that's one that we're seeing in uptickin participation as we share it. But
when we started five years ago,there wasn't a lot of discussion on the
payment plan program. But in termsof areas to directly help, there's one

(23:15):
more. We Audit's office administers aproperty tax assistance program, so we call
it p TAP. There's a numberof nonprofit partners that help administer p TAP.
It's something that had been around fordecades. To the Commissioner's credit,
they really helped put some financial backingand it is a one time keyword.
There, one time opportunity for qualifyingindividuals to get a TAP property tax payment

(23:38):
relief if there's a change in incomeso you lost unemployment unfortunately, or maybe
lost the spouse, so change inkind of household dynamic. That's what p
TAP is meant to help, sobridge people through that one time tax bill
so then they're not in default,not trying to chase them and get rests

(24:00):
established after that p TAB application.And see the way you said that is,
let me take you back to thebeginning of our talk together when I
told you, you know, inthe traditional sends democratic this is one of
those things where he and I Iguarantee you we agree. I could tell
by the inflection in your voice,the look on your face. It's all
one time. Yes, it's greatto have programs that will help people out.

(24:22):
It's not about taking care of youthe rest of your life. It's
but you know, we can allfall on our face. Man, whether
the employer shuts down, or weinherit a house full of grandkids or or
whatever may come into play in ourlife, our dynamics change. We need
just to lift up to get throughthat hole and get a chance to take
a breath. And I didn't evenknow you said this has been around for

(24:45):
years. I've never even heard aboutthis. Yeah. So it was created
by a court consent decree and therejust had not been adequate funding, and
so it existed, but it wasvery hush hush, and so maybe they'd
give out one or two grants.Essentially, we've been able to expand it,
and again the Commissioner's funding has beena big part of that, and

(25:07):
that we can go out and tellpeople not shy away and say oh we're
not gonna be able to help you. Now, we do have hundreds of
filing for it, and so tryingto stretch those dollars have the biggest impact.
Continues to be an area of focus, again, not the Auditor's office,
but the other partners that are thereto help prop up and support the
PI TAP program. Do you havea lot of turn ins? I don't

(25:30):
know if there's not like a whistleblowerline or anything like that, but I
see as I'm talking to you,I'm thinking my wheels are worllly. You
know, my neighbor doesn't have licenseson his dog, or those people have
tenants living in there, they're notactually owner occupants. Or is there a
number of calls that you get wherepeople are turning in other people? I'm

(25:51):
just curious. So I often commentthe Auditor's websites the most visited county government
website, and it's because neighbors areout looking what their neighbors are up to,
and then they are very quick tobring us up the speed of what
we may be missing or not awareof. So if they've added an addition
and didn't pull permits, if they'vegot a number of dogs that aren't licensed,

(26:12):
yes, we do have a lotof neighbors reach out to us.
I just I was curious about thatas you were talking, because again,
as I was saying that we're morepolarized now, we're also separated, and
that is That's always been one ofthe things I gripe about, neighbors going
over, hey, Jill, yourdog pooped in my yard. We don't
do that anymore. We got tocall somebody all the time, get somebody

(26:33):
in trouble, whether it's you know, code enforcement shows up at the door.
I remember back in ninety was itnineteen ninety five, nineteen ninety six,
building a deck, first house buildinga deck. I didn't even get
the holes done before there's somebody outthere from the county with a clipboard.
I'm like, really seriously, Yes, somebody else had called and said,

(26:56):
yeah, we are understand you're buildinga deck. And maybe that's why I've
got such a distaste for that.But I was just curious if you were
seeing a significant number of people doingso. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's
an uptick. It's pretty constant andconsistent. We hear from a neighbors welcome
the opportunity to work together, theowner occupied comes up, as you alluded

(27:19):
to, maybe they know it's beingrunned out and they see that it's getting
the owner occupied credit. Again,we try to be as an office as
transparent as possible. You will findmore than you would think records available to
provide that transparency. So happy towork with any property owner. Bring anything
to our attention, and we're notout trying to penalize anyone, but just

(27:41):
make sure everyone's compliant with what therevised code's requiring. Yeah, just the
neighbor gets neighbor stuff. You know, I'm not a big guy. I've
complained to you. I remember severalyears ago, before the market started inflating
residential property values. One of thethings I used to get so when we
had the foreclosures out there, you'dhave somebody coming in and buy a bank
owned property. They'd pay fifteen grandfor this boarded up house. Then they

(28:03):
would sell it to the LLC thattheir spouse owns for eighty thousand dollars.
The spouse's LLC would then sell itback to them for one hundred and seventy
thousand dollars. Then they're getting aline of credit on it for one hundred
and ninety thousand dollars. It's thesame fifteen thousand dollars boarded up piece of
crap. But they would exchange itback and forth artificially inflating the value on

(28:23):
paper, which you know, that'sthey can deal with the court system themself.
The problem was that was affecting therest of the neighborhood. And I
oh, that one always made memad. And you don't see it really
much anymore because the value is soup because of market conditions that you don't
need people out there playing their gamesto do it. But was that ever

(28:47):
did that ever become a legal issuea court issued at anybody at the legislative
level address it or anything like that. It has not changed at the legislative
level. So we call it theLLC loerpoll not just inflated price, but
buying that LLC and not at throwingthe land or the property in as part
of the purchase of that LLC.It's something as Auditors Association, So my

(29:07):
eighty six colleagues across the state,so eighty six independently elected auditors. You
have two county executive models. Soif people are like I thought, there
eighty eight counties. Yeah, Ijust I was thinking. I saw the
look. So eighty six independently electedtwo county executive model across the state of
Ohio to get our eighty eight counties. We continue to advocate for at least

(29:29):
putting some reporting standards around the LLCloophole. That has yet to happen.
This has been a decades long asksome folks wanted eliminated. I'm comfortable let's
just at least laid out satatorily ofthis is what needs to be reported.
I think it's good lowering. Youcan get away with doing it. It's
not great, but it's a littlebit of malpractice that if you're not because

(29:52):
the law is allowing it, notto take advantage. Yeah, yeah,
I mean that's if it's there,you do what that Well, it's tax
season. Keep that in mind.If it's there, you do it.
Two more things for I have tosay goodbye to you. Dog licenses and
gas pumps. Are we getting moredog licenses? The COVID thing. People
wanted pets, they wanted somebody athome. Did you see an uptick in

(30:15):
the number of dog lives? Wehave, not, unfortunately seen an uptick.
Continues to be a challenge that remindingfolks that under a high law,
your dog's supposed to be licensed.As you and I have talked about that,
people want to know why not acat or my dog's not driving anywhere?
Why doesn't need a license? Butno, I would say it's unfortunately

(30:36):
held pretty flat. About sixty percentof dog owners and Franklin County don't license
their dogs. And it's just achallenge because I can't just go knock on
a door and say, do youhave a dog? Is a license we
are able to And I really appreciatedid you just say sixty percent? Yes?
Really? Yeah? People, seriouslysixty percent. I mean I've got

(31:00):
it on my calendar. Plus,I mean your office sends me a text
every year. I got I enrolledin the text reminder thing, and I
get a piece of mail from youas well, showing me here's the dogs.
But that's the challenge. So Iknow where you are because you've done
it before. We are struggling tofind that sixty percent. So we know
they're going to vets' offices. Weasked veterinarians to be partners with us.

(31:22):
We know they're purchasing them at petstores. We asked them to be partners
but there's no requirement, and sowhile they may get the rabies vaccination,
they may not take the extra stepand get the dog license, or because
of microchipping, they're satisfied if mydog and I get separated, I'll be
able to locate my pal via themicrochip. I don't need the dog license.
Are you working on a raby's clinic? You know I went over this

(31:44):
way last year. I know weare. We've got area where COVID has
had an impact, and there's goodpartners out there. It's just tough to
get that word out. Capillari UMaine Society finally offered one last year,
And because you know, I hadmultiple dogs, I would take advantage of
these clagues where I could go infor it, like ten bucks get the
rabies vaccine. That was great.Well, No, first of all,

(32:05):
apparently there was a shortage of thevaccine, there was a shortage of veterinarians
willing to participate, shortage of venuesthat were willing to host this kind of
thing. So there were none lastyear until Capitol Area Humane Society said,
Okay, we're going to do oneon this Saturday, And I think I
sent you a picture. Didn't Iridiculously. The line stretched from Morris Road
to the state of Montana. Itwas ridiculous. People pulling in there to

(32:30):
get their animals vaccinated. And youknow, if you are a veterinarian that
is listening. You work in aveterinarian's office or whatever, you're a veterinary
student, you're at the OSU Collegeof Veterinary Medicine, whatever, let's all
get together and coordinate something because wewant to. Look. If we're going
to have them, we got tokeep them safe. And you know,

(32:51):
something as simple as the rabies vaccineis something we should do. Another idea
for the county. Here you gomake some money the GPS, the chip
when you chip your animal. Idon't know you you got dogs, do
you chip them? Fortunately we don'tanymore. Oh really Yeah, the eighteen
year old pug passed away about twoweeks ago. Oh, I'm sorry.
We just lost our kiddy last weektoo, to them and not unexpected.

(33:14):
Eighteen years was a great that wasa good pug run. Yes, and
so brother lost them earlier this yearand then lost Wrigley two weeks ago.
I'm sorry to hear that's okay.The chip thing has bugged me because you
know I can get on my cellphone and find anybody in my family.
I can find my car, Ican find all kinds. I can find
me hey Google. But for mydog, I have to go through a

(33:36):
third party for them to activate thechip and then they'll tell somebody else where.
I don't get that. If thecounty would administer we got a nine
one one that are put in onemore computer and just keep track of the
dogs. Seriously, I would payyou the extra fifty bucks a year to
watch over my dog, and thatwill be another one I'll share with the
commissioners. It'll probably go through theshelter. And so this is where a

(34:00):
statutory office. Because the General simblyhas not said auditors you can do this,
the prosecer is going to tell meI can't as the auditor administer that.
So we'll I'm happy to bring itto the commissioners and see what they're
fuguing. Take it two women,have a frown on your face when you
do it, be intimidating. Finally, gas pumps, gas prices up down,
up, down up down. Yeah, you have the staff. Are

(34:20):
you out there checking the pumps theway you used to? Are you keeping
sure that we're getting three dollars andeighty cents worth of gas for three dollars.
We are very proud and appreciative ofthe work of our Weights and Measures
team. Now what I remind folks, Franklin County is unique. City of
Columbus has their own weights and measures, so depending if you're in the city
or outside the city, you'll beable to notice based on the county or
city sticker. But they do agreat job. We check all the pumps.

(34:43):
We work with a number of businessowners to make sure that we are
protecting consumers dollars as best we can, to the point where last year we
had one national chain not be goodpartners. They were failing, failing,
failing to a lawsuit by the HighAttorney General. He settled with them.
To the Attorney Journal's credit, hewanted the dollars from that settlement to go

(35:07):
to local community. So we workedand were able to distribute that to local
food pantries across the county. Therewas one, I think it was just
this past year over on my belovedWest Side where the somebody had put it
on Facebook. They did a videothey you know, lift a hand to
one select grade will they lifted thehandle and the meter starts running on the
pump, and I don't know howthat ever put It was hilarious because I'm

(35:28):
holding it in my hand and Ialready got ninety cents worth of So for
our sticker, we'll have a QRcode so you can immediately file a complaint
or call the number, and ourteam welcomes the opportunity. But I'm gonna
guess maybe it was in the cityof Columbus when it occurred. So then
we will obviously work closely with ourcounterparts at the city to make sure they're

(35:49):
out there getting accuracy as well.Does that QR code identify the pump as
well? Do you need to haveyour information to wear you? So the
QR card will take you to theforum to fill out for us. Okay,
so as you fill out the forum, you could tell us the pump,
locay and the address. All right, helpful information, anything else that
you need to say, want tosay, feel the urge to say kind
of what you're also alluded to anytimemyself for the office can be of helper

(36:09):
service. Email auditor stands down itFrank Countohio dot gov. Call the office
six one four five two five home, take a lot of pride and working
through and on the issues. Again, we can't directly change your property taxes,
but if you feel the valuation shouldand can be adjusted, we will
want to work with you by thatApril first deadline. All right, and

(36:30):
my accommendations to the staff. Bythe way, I've got the auditor himself
in here, But all of thosepeople who work for you in that office,
I'm sure I've told you this beforetoo. I was not worried about
you when the transition was made atthe Auditor's office, your predecessor. Would
you know I told you the election. I don't feel like I can lose

(36:52):
with either one of you. Ithink you're both great guys. Trusted both
of you to do a good job. Staffing wise, you never know.
But the people who are working inyour office, uh uh, I have
never found one that has been discourteous, inefficient, unresponsive, anything like that.
They're not They're not a typical governmentcontact point, to be honest with
you, and uh, I've beenpleased every time I've had to call five

(37:14):
two five four sixty six three andget help. I think they know my
emails out there, so if thereis a problem, they're gonna hear I'm
gonna hear it. So the auditorwould like to see you in his office.
Uh oh, is it that Chuckguy on the phone again? Yep,
that happens. Thank you very much, you always get to see it.
That is Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano. You can reach his office online

(37:34):
at Franklin County auditor dot com anda telephone number to the office six one
four five two five four six sixthree