Did we find property tax fraud?
How can you tax what you don’t know exists? How can you inspect and issue building permits if you do not know the building exists?

Special Disclaimer: All conclusions drawn are based on the records we found and were not able to find at the Warren County Auditor. You should draw your own conclusions as we are not lawyers or any form of enforcement agency. We are just calling it the way we see it.

We were seeking information on when each of these buildings were constructed to address the issue of the Americans with Disability Act of 1990. Our initial goal was to determine which of the some 150 permanent structures were created after the act went into effect in 1992. What we found seems to be not only lies made to potential merchants but maybe even property tax fraud.


The apparent lie:
According to the official vendor application for 2008, Peter Carroll personally owns this land.

“Peter Carroll, President of the Ohio Renaissance Festival, Inc. is owner/manager and personally owns the 177 acre site.”

Reference as of September 8, 2008: http://www.renfestival.com/pdfs/vendor-application-2008a.pdf

According to the records of the Warren County Auditor this land and all the structures on it (including the merchant buildings which have been recorded) are actually owned by Brimstone Limited Partnership. Perhaps Peter Carroll is one of the partners in this partnership, maybe he is even the majority partner, but it seems from property records that when he says he “personally owns this land” the statement is not exactly true.

Keeping in mind, in this article we are only speaking about 100 of the 177 acres Peter Carroll claims to personally own, county records indicate that as of 10/11/2004 this section of the property alone had a $700,000.00 lien (ENCUMBRANCE/ MTG) by Lebanon Citizens National Bank.

The apparent property tax fraud:

Merchant Buildings are “Yard Items” - According to county records, the merchant buildings that the county knows about are actually “Yard Items” which are owned by Brimstone Limited Partnership. This includes buildings with concrete floors, showers, kitchens, hot and cold running water, and so on. These are permanently constructed buildings which serve as retail sales space to an estimated 175,000 customers each year. Many of them serve as living space during the course of 3 months out of the year. We do not think they are “yard items”. We think this is some slick way to get away with not paying the proper property tax and not requiring occupancy permits or inspections.

76 Merchant Buildings / Yard Items – Despite the fact that the Ohio Renaissance Festival claims over 135 merchants, when we remove food services, games, fences, and similar items from these 110 “yard items” we are left with only about 76 buildings being built by these merchants.

Last merchant building built in 1996 – According to Warren county records, other than the Dungeon of Doom, there was no construction on the main grounds of the Ohio Renaissance Festival after 1996. So for the last 12 years, it seems all of the merchant building construction was done without bothering to tell the county. Evidently, the many buildings constructed after 1996 aren’t even “yard items”.

Property Tax – It does not seem like the property tax is being calculated properly. As an example, we know for a fact that the building recorded by the county auditor as #9603 Her Majesty’s Iron Works with a value of $2,000.00 was sold in 2004 for $15,000.00 and was later renovated at a cost of well over $5,000.00 without any sort of permit. In fact, we have a copy of the receipts. So does ORF Inc. When you consider not only the undervalue of the buildings that are recorded but the many which are not, it is seems rather clear that property tax is not being paid on this parcel.

Reference:
http://www.co.warren.oh.us/auditor/property_search/yarditems.asp?account_nbr=4500785

Lets look at this particular parcel:

The Ohio Renaissance Festival – The Village, Public Parking and RV / Trailer Camping Areas
This does not include the employee parking area, the primitive camping area, the police station, the public entrance, or other property on state rt. 76.

Parcel ID – 10112000110
Owner – Brimstone Limited Partnership
Legal Description - MS- 567 99.836 acres

Property Value As Of 01-01-2007
Land Value $998,360
Building Value $288,400
Total $1,286,760

Assessed Value of Land - $123,910
Assessed Value of Buildings - $100,940
Assessed Total - $224,850

Total Buildings – 1 (built in 1998)
Total Outbuildings – 15 (all built in 1994)
Total Yard Items – 110 (All build in or before 1996)

Buildings - 1
According to county records there seems to be one building at the Ohio Renaissance Festival. That building was built in 1998. It is listed as a Dungeon so we assume it is the Dungeon of Doom. A steel structure with front façade of a medieval dungeon.

A Satellite photo is worth a thousand words - According to TerraServer.com, their satellite image of the building was take on 9/1/2005, about 3 years after the date given for construction at the Warren County Auditor's office.

Dungeon of Doom Occupancy code – GCM

Outbuildings – 15
There are listed a total of 15 “out buildings” which were each reported to be constructed in 1994 (Season 4)

Yard Items – 110
All other structures on the festival grounds seem to be either not listed or included in the 110 “yard items” along with such things as the various wood fences. That is right, evidently the retail establishments which function as a strip mall are “Yard Items”. Well, the ones that the county has been informed about are recorded as “Yard Items”. Because it seems in 1996, ORF Inc. stopped informing the Auditor’s office of Warren county about new construction. Lets look at these “Yard Items”.

The first thing to note on this list of “Yard Items” is that the first two digits of the identification code reflects the year it was constructed. I quote from the memo section of the property records.

“THE FIRST TWO DIGITS OF THE BLDG NUMBER INDICATES THE YR. OF CONSTRUCTION”

No new buildings since 1996?
If we examine the list of “yard items”, it looks like there were no new buildings constructed since 1996. We know for a fact this is not true, so lets examine the list of these “Yard Items”.

Corruption?
A deal went into effect in 1998 which transfers almost a million dollars from the Ohio Renaissance Festival to he city of Harveysburg over the course of 25 years. There is little doubt this deal was struck in 1997, the very year records of new construction seem to have ended? Is this coincidence.

Let’s look at these 110 “Yard Items”

St. Peter's Church, no doubt named after the owner of the Ohio Renaissance Festival Peter Carroll, is listed with the county Auditor as having a true value of $4,200.00. I don't think I could put a roof on such a building for that much money. Note, this is not the assessed or otherwise lower than true value. Per County auditor records, this "Lawn Item" has a total value of $4,200.00

Did we mention how much money Peter Carroll donates to the republican party or how Warren County is almost 100% republican? Could the County Auditor and Peter Carroll be part of some conspiracy? We don't think so. We think it is more of a Boss Tweed(ish) network.

We have changed the order of these items to reflect two different categories of structures. Although it appears from this that Brimstone Limited Partnership owns all structures on this land, there is a belief given to independent merchants that they own their buildings. So we have done our best to categorize these into what we are calling “Festival Owned” and “Merchant Owned” buildings / Yard Items.

Note: The numbers at the far left seem to be line numbers used by the county.

Festival Owned / Non Merchant structures.
1 9008-FOOD SERVICE #1 $11,600
2 9007-FOOD SERVICE #2 $11,600
3 9009-TRV'LRS TREASRE $2,300
4 9010-TICKET BOOTH $3,100
5 9011-ENTRANCE BLDG $2,300
16 9027-SOFT DRINK #4 $1,000
31 9045-STAGE I $1,300
32 9046-STAGE II $1,800
33 9047-JOUST REVIEWING $700
35 9049-MUD PIT BLDG $1,100
68 9254-SOFT DRINK #1 $800
69 9255-SOFT DRINK #2 $600
70 9256-SOFT DRINK #3 $900
73 9259-GARGOYLE TURRET $1,400
77 9263-LEMON ICE #1 $500
79 9265-BEER GARDEN $5,200
81 9267-WAX HANDS $700
99 WOOD FENCE-800 L/F $3,700
101 9600-ST PETER CHURCH $4,200
104 9602 - WAX HANDS $1,700
110 9607 - ARCHERY $1,100
75 9261-GLORIANNA STAGE $2,100
62 9198-CAST SHELTER $600
63 9199-M.C.I. BLDG $900
89 9305-FOOD & BEVERAGE $1,400
83 ** 1994 N/C ** $0
100 * 96 N/C - 100% 1/97
38 2800 L/F WOOD FENCE $12,600
39 9171-EQUESTRIAN CNTR $1,600
65 9251-MOTHER'S PUB $6,300

Merchant Owned Buildings / Yard Items (75 total) – Note: Although Warren county seems to think these buildings are owned by Brimstone Limited Partnership, most of the merchants believe they own these buildings, uh well Yard Items. Now keep in mind, the Ohio Renaissance Festival currently advertises having over 135 merchants. Do we really believe almost half of all merchants are in tents? Do we really believe there was no new construction since 1996? We will break this down by years.

1990 – 27 New Buildings were recorded (first year of the festival)
6 9012-CANVAS CRAFTERS $3,400
7 9014-BRANCH OF LOVE $400
8 9015-STARFIRE $400
9 9017-RAINBOW CRYSTAL $800
10 9018-PURPLE UNICORN $1,200
11 9020-A&A POTTERY $2,400
12 9022-CRANE PEWTER $2,000
13 9024-EARTH & ART $2,700
14 9025-WHITE PAVILION $1,700
15 9026-SANDLE SHOPPE $900
17 9028-COURTYARD FAIRE $1,100
18 9029-YE SILVER CASTL $1,600
19 9030-JANET & CO. $1,000
20 9031-VIKING JEWELRY $2,300
21 9032-LORELEY TAVERN $6,900
22 9033-SWAN LACE $4,200
23 9036-STAFFS BY GUST $1,100
24 9037-BURNT MTN CRAFT $1,100
25 9038-GOODIES FORTUNE $2,300
26 9040-DRAGON/UNICORN $2,800
27 9041-UNICORN CLOTHNG $6,900
28 9042-BALLENA BAY $3,600
29 9043-SILVER SWORD $2,100
30 9044-ARTISTIC IMPRES $400
34 9048-QUEENS' TREASUR $400
36 9050-PATTI ORIGINALS $1,500
37 9054-ANCIENT ARTS $1,300


In 1991 – 22 New buildings were recorded (second year of the festival)
40 9172-IREI LIGHTS $1,600
41 9173-BALD MTN MOCASS $1,600
42 9174-NORWOOD SCULPT. $2,400
43 9175-KAMALA $900
44 9176-GREENTREE WEAVE $1,700
45 9177-RHIANNON $500
46 9179-FREEDOM OVRSPIL $1,000
47 9182-MALACHITE DRAG. $900
48 9183-MADE ON EARTH $2,300
49 9184-LEWIS FAM CRAFT $1,600
50 9185-WIZARDS & RINGS $1,600
51 9186-CROWNING GLORY $900
52 9187-GYPSY JEWELRY $500
53 9188-VILLAGE CLAY $2,100
54 9189-FELLOWSHIP FOUN $1,400
55 9190-MATRIS $700
56 9191-BLACK DRAGON $1,500
57 9192-PAMPERED LADY $2,600
58 9193-RAINMAKER TRAD $700
59 9195-PETRIFIED FORR $800
60 9196-POSSUM HOLLOW $1,000
61 9197-FUREVER YOURS $1,300

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)– Note, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 became in effect in 1992. This is what we were researching when we stumbled upon what looks to us like property tax fraud.

In 1992 – 10 New buildings were recorded (third year of the festival)
64 9250-ROYAL ARMOURY $1,800

66 9252-SHARON CRYSTAL $1,300
67 9253-SALE OF NUTS $400
71 9257-BODACIOUS BALBL $1,600
72 9258-BASKET WERKS $900
74 9260-ARMS & ARMOUR $1,100
76 9262-SKY CASTLE $1,100
78 9264-UNICORN LEATHER $1,400
80 9266-DRAGON'S BREATH $3,800
82 9268-CREATION GALLER $1,100

In 1993 – 11 New buildings were recorded (fourth year of the festival)
84 9301-SWENDSEN $2,200
85 WOODSHOPPE $0 (same as above line)
86 9302-WOOD SAWN $2,100
87 INSTRUMENTS $0 (same as above line)
88 9303-POTTER'S HOUSE $1,100
90 9306-SILVER CRESCENT $1,500
91 9307-PINETOP WOODWKS $2,600
92 9308-LLOYD'S LEATHER $2,300
93 9309-BERRIED TREAS. $2,700
94 9310-NADIR FORGE $1,600
95 9311-REALM DOLLS $700
96 9312-CREATIONS IN $2,300
97 GLASS $0 (this seems to be another line 96)
98 9313-BRAIDS/BASKETS $1,100

In 1995 – No new buildings were recorded. (fifth year of the festival)

In 1996 – 5 new buildings were recorded (sixth year of the festival)
102 9601 - HER MAJESTY'S $0
103 EXOTIC BLDG $900 (note: this seems to be an extension of line 102)
105 9603 - HER MAJESTY'S $0
106 IRONWORKS $2,200 (note: this seems to be an extension of line 105)
107 9604-AUTH. WARDROBE $1,500
108 9605-TAILS ON TAILS $1,100
109 9606-AUTHENTIC IMAGE $1,500

1997 – No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
1998– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
1999– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2000– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2001– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2002– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2003– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2004– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2005– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2006– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2007– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.
2008– No new construction was recorded. – We think this is not true.


You will note how horribly under valued the buildings which are listed are. Do not let anyone try to tell you these are the assessed values. Nope, these are the real values which are later added up and then assessed at an even lower amount. So many, many buildings aren't even recorded and those which are are wildly under valued. Makes for a mighty low property tax doesn't it?

Punch Line - Pete Carroll charges the merchants for the real estate tax on their buildings. Evidently, even for the tax on buildings which according to the County Auditor do not exist. That fee is part of a merchant's contract. - Click here for more information.