Montgomery County values just jumped about 19 percent. Now what?
On June 17, 2026, Auditor Karl Keith's office announced the results of the county's sexennial reappraisal: residential values up about 19 percent and commercial values up about 20 percent. The county's total value now stands at $46 billion, up $16.6 billion, or 56 percent, since 2020.
The gains are broad. Dayton alone added more than $1 billion in residential value, with big increases in Kettering, Washington Township, Huber Heights, and Miami Township.
Value notices started hitting mailboxes in early July 2026, and the new values apply to tax year 2026 bills payable in 2027. What you do in the next few months determines whether an inflated number follows you for years.
What can you do right now? Use the informal review
The Auditor's Office is offering an informal review of the new values right now, before they are finalized. It is free, there is no hearing, and it is the easiest moment in the entire cycle to fix a wrong value.
Bring something concrete: recent sales of similar homes, a purchase price if you bought recently, or photos and estimates showing condition problems the appraisers could not see from the street.
Do not feel awkward about asking. Appraisers value tens of thousands of homes from data and expect some values to need correction, so showing up with evidence is normal, not adversarial.
If the informal review does not resolve it, you lose nothing. The formal Board of Revision route is still fully available in January.
Will your taxes really go up 19 percent?
Almost certainly not. Ohio taxes 35 percent of market value, and under House Bill 920, voted levies collect roughly fixed dollars when values rise. After the 2023 update raised values 34 percent, the auditor's office said most owners saw only about a 4 to 6 percent tax increase.
So a big countywide jump mostly washes out. What does not wash out is an individual over-assessment. If your value rose more than comparable homes nearby, the levy burden shifts onto you and stays there.
The 35 percent figure also explains why the taxable value on your notice looks so much smaller than the market value. Nothing is wrong, that is just the statewide ratio, and the market value is the number to challenge.
That is the test to run when your notice arrives: not "did my value go up," but "did it go up more than it should have compared to homes like mine."
How do you file a formal appeal with the Board of Revision?
If the informal review does not fix your value, here is the formal path. Montgomery County is stricter about paperwork than some counties, so read the form instructions twice.
- Complete DTE Form 1, the Complaint Against the Valuation of Real Property, in full. Montgomery County requires it to be signed and notarized.
- File between the first Monday in January and March 31, 2027. Late complaints are dismissed.
- Deliver it in person or by certified mail to the Board of Revision, 451 W. Third St., 3rd Floor, Dayton OH 45422. Per county materials, e-filing is not offered as of this writing, so call (937) 496-6856 or check the county site before the window opens.
- Attend your hearing before the three member board and present your evidence.
- Receive the written decision by certified mail. You have 30 days to appeal further to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals or the county court of common pleas.
What evidence do you need?
The burden of proof is on you, and everything should support a specific opinion of value as of January 1 of the tax year. The county points to three main types of evidence:
- Comparable sales of similar homes near yours, ideally from around January 1 of the tax year.
- A professional appraisal, keeping in mind that refinance appraisals are typically rejected.
- Condition documentation, such as dated photos and certified repair estimates.
- If you bought the home recently, your own arm's length purchase price is the strongest evidence of all.
How much money is at stake?
Per county tax data, the median Montgomery County home is worth $139,400, the median effective rate is 2.04 percent, and the median annual bill is about $2,796. A 10 percent market-value reduction on that median home saves roughly $280 per year.
Now apply the reappraisal. A home that goes from $150,000 to $178,500, a 19 percent increase, and then wins back 10 percent at the board saves about $360 per year.
One complaint per property is generally allowed in each three year valuation cycle unless an exception applies, and the value set now rides until the next update. A single well built filing can pay for itself several times over.
Those figures are medians, so if your home's value or your community's rate is higher, the stakes rise with them. The savings repeat every year the corrected value stands.
Is it worth appealing in Montgomery County?
Yes, if your value is genuinely out of line. Filing costs little, and since House Bill 126 took effect, school boards can no longer freely fight homeowner reductions, so most residential appeals are decided on the evidence rather than argued against by a district's lawyers.
Specifically, a district can only file over a recent sale at least 10 percent and roughly $500,000 above the auditor's value, needs a public board resolution first, can only counter complaints seeking at least a $17,500 change in taxable value, and cannot appeal a Board of Revision loss. Ordinary homeowner appeals sail past all of that.
Stack the exemptions on top. The owner occupancy credit trims 2.5 percent off qualified levies on a home you live in, and the homestead exemption shields a portion of market value for homeowners 65 and older or disabled homeowners with qualifying income. The auditor's office can confirm the current amounts.
If notarized forms, certified mail, and comp research are not your idea of a good weekend, Homespring handles the whole thing, informal review through Board of Revision, with no upfront fee. Just do not ignore the notice, because this reappraisal sets your baseline for years.