INDIANAPOLIS - Posey County must conduct a new reassessment of business property but will not have to reassess homes, the governor's property-tax czar said Thursday.
Meanwhile, Daviess, Perry and Vigo counties are among 14 additional Indiana counties that now are in the clear, after their assessments met with state approval.
Cheryl Musgrave, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, spelled out details of the new reassessment she ordered in Posey County. As has been the case in several other counties, she said, residential properties were reassessed higher while industrial and commercial hardly changed in value at all - shifting a disproportionate tax burden onto residential homeowners.
"What that really tells you is that 'trending' did not occur for those classes of property," Musgrave said, referring to the court-ordered catch-up process of assessing property to reflect changes in value over time.
At a public hearing Monday in Mount Vernon, Ind., Posey County officials questioned the need for a new reassessment and expressed concern about its cost to the county.
Musgrave said Thursday the state is ordering reassessment only of commercial and industrial parcels there. Posey County officials "have the option of doing some changes in residential if they desire," Musgrave said, but the state does not require it. Later, Posey County Assessor Kristi Carroll said the county would probably not do a new residential reassessment.
Another issue was whether Posey County would be allowed to use the same outside firm that handled its earlier reassessment, Appraisal Research, or if it would be forced to hire a new vendor. Musgrave said Thursday that Posey County officials will be allowed to keep the same firm.
When the 2007 tax bills are issued, Posey County home-owners will be asked to pay at 2006 levels. Adjustments, up or down, would be made next year, Carroll said. Three other counties, Gibson, Marion and Delaware, have been ordered along with Posey to reassess, at county expense.
Musgrave has started the process of seeking possible reassessments in five other counties, including Pike, pending public hearings. On Thursday she added a sixth county to that list, Shelby County, where she said commercial and industrial properties were under-assessed, relative to homes.
Meanwhile, 45 counties, including 14 added to that list Thursday, have been released from having to reassess again, since their standards were adequate. Vanderburgh, Warrick, Knox and Martin are among the counties the state already approved.
Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed Musgrave, a former Vanderburgh County commissioner, to investigate property assessments after the recent reassessment showed taxes increasing by an average 24 percent statewide, with some homeowners facing a doubling or tripling of their bills.
In other developments:
Musgrave has set into motion a possible reassessment of Pike County, for which a public hearing is required first. The hearing is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sept. 20 in the auditorium of the Pike County Courthouse in Petersburg, Ind., Pike County Assessor Jody Hoover said.
Musgrave already ordered a reassessment of commercial and industrial parcels in Gibson County following a recent public hearing there. The order notes that in the absence of industrial property sales to establish "trending," Gibson County officials must use other information to establish the market value of properties. The reassessment of "undervalued and omitted property" must be completed by Dec. 31.
The department is requiring counties to send in three sets of data from assessors, auditors and sales information. Musgrave said it all must be submitted by Oct. 15. She warned that the department will not approve 2008 tax rates or bond issues for counties that miss the deadline. Pulaski County is the first and so far the only county to be ruled "compliant," Musgrave said