AUDITOR APPRAISALS: A Factor in Voting?
This press release is my attempt to clarify the Dayton Daily News reporting on their article about my campaign, titled “Appraisals: a factor in voting?” in the Thursday, October 23, 2014 edition.
I met with a staff reporter, and a photographer, on the afternoon of Friday, October 10 at their offices. During the interview, I thought I did well explaining my campaign and the issues
surrounding this race.
Yesterday, I was saddened by the state of journalism in the Miami Valley. My opponent managed to convince the local newspaper that the Sales Ratio Report which shows specific
properties sold in comparison to the auditor’s assessed values is a prediction of future
valuation. If the Sales Ratio Report “the ratios are used to set what should be expected in the
next appraisals, Keith said, not how accurate the last reappraisals was”. This would then be
tantamount to say that a child’s report card for last semester is an indication of what he or she
aspires to be. Or, that is like saying that yesterday’s stock market ending price is a prediction of
its future value!
Newspaper Forgets
What is also laughable is my opponent saying that I misinterpret the articles published on the
issues by the same newspaper! Some of the issues, also published by the paper, brought to the
attention of the staff reporter included:
- My opponent, who claims to be a Certified Cash Manager, missed the distribution of $40 million to the City of Kettering for over two years. The extra cash was discovered by the State Auditor.
- As the county data processor and payroll manager he issued payroll checks to employees that bounced at the bank.
- As a self-proclaimed leader and president of the county auditors’ association (a position
he held multiple times in his 23 years in office), he should have led the charge to change legislation to avoid the current issues surrounding the Ohio Current Agricultural Use
Value (CAUV). - My opponent spent more than $4.3 million in the recent re-appraisals that the voters are not happy about and yet claims he has improved customer service for property owners.
- My opponent recently revised his reappraisals of the Huber Heights area thereby asking the school board to revise his prior revisions given to them.
- My opponent, considering he is the chief fiscal officer of the county, is not able to properly complete his own campaign finance reports – after 14 years of submissions of the same reports.
- My opponent, instead of prosecuting an employee who embezzled county money,
allowed the employee to repay the money back in installments.
Most of the above issues were reported in the Dayton Daily News and yet my opponent claims that I misinterpret what I read in the same paper which failed to report the real issues surrounding this campaign. Instead, the paper focused on the fact that this a re-match of the 2010 race.
You can read more about the issues surrounding our current auditor here on my website. View the entire press release here: 10_24_14_DDN -Harry
