INDIANAPOLIS - Vanderburgh County has received the state's blessing on its property tax assessment process, but officials in neighboring Gibson and Posey counties are preparing to redo their tax computations after homeowners there were hit harder than businesses and industry.
Gibson County taxpayers are being invited to attend a Monday meeting in Princeton, Ind., at the Gibson County Courthouse with officials from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. The agency's staff will share an analysis of the initial Gibson County assessment and then listen to public testimony. A hearing date has not been set for Posey County.
Cheryl Musgrave, a former Vanderburgh County commissioner, heads the agency and serves as Gov. Mitch Daniels' property tax czar.
In her first weeks on the job, Musgrave ordered four counties to redo their property tax assessments. On Thursday, the governor intervened for one of them after residents in Delaware County expressed worry that another reassessment would mean even higher taxes.
Based on the governor's decision, Musgrave said assessors in Delaware County will not review residential properties, but instead will examine commercial and industrial properties.
Taxes on homeowners are expected to increase by 24 percent on average statewide this year, but many taxpayers face bills that have spiked higher. Several factors are driving up bills in many parts of the state, including trending, the system to reassess taxes using increases in market price.
Vanderburgh County is the only county in Southwest Indiana that is in the clear with the state on its property tax assessment.
The state earlier said Vanderburgh had failed to send some data on previous assessments. On Thursday, Vanderburgh County Assessor Jonathan Weaver said he expects the county will become compliant after submitting the missing data this week.
Weaver's office was notified of its non-compliance with the Department of Local Government Finance late last month in a letter from Musgrave.
Weaver said the real estate data was submitted Tuesday and personal property numbers were sent Thursday.
Weaver said he was still disappointed with the process, but pleased to have the issue apparently resolved.
"I still think there's better issues out there and counties with bigger problems than Vanderburgh County," he said. "But we were able to get it done and hopefully we can move on from here and be compliant."
Weaver said his office should know if the data are approved and the county restored to compliancy by Labor Day.
Amid complaints from homeowners and anti-tax protests, the state Department of Local Government Finance investigated and said it suspected businesses and industry were underassessed. That shifted a disproportionate share of taxes onto residential property owners. Taxpayers in the four counties were told to pay this year what they did in 2006, and any changes could be reconciled on next year's bills.