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Two things happened in February that foretold the actions Monday of several area property owners to file a lawsuit over their mineral rights valuations: first, the West Virginia State Tax Department admitted it had sent out incorrect mineral rights valuations to at least half of all property owners; and second, during a public meeting here in Wheeling on the issue, Ohio County Assessor Tiffany Hoffman made the following comment: "I and other assessors throughout the state have had meetings, and we are not confident that these numbers are correct. I, as an assessor, have to turn in these numbers from the state of West Virginia, and I have to sign off on them. ... But personally, I, Tiffany Hoffman, am not sure about these numbers."
On Monday, Wheeling attorney J. Anthony Edmond Jr. filed a lawsuit in Ohio County on behalf of Scott Sonda and Mark Sonda of Bethany, Steven Dille of Moundsville, Glenn Dille of Valley Grove and Richard Wood of Bethany. The lawsuit, filed against the Ohio County Board of Equalization and Review, which hears initial appeals of property appraisals for tax purposes, alleges the West Virginia Tax Division incorrectly appraised the plaintiffs' mineral rights values and that the board of equalization and review did not utilize the correct standard of proof when rejecting the property owners' appeals.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Michael Olejasz.
Given the admission from the West Virginia State Tax Division and comments from other officials involved in how mineral rights are assessed, it was only a matter of time before a lawsuit was filed. This is a necessary step to ensure this new valuation method is fair and constitutional and, as we previously noted, that budgets for county agencies based on property valuations are correct.