INDIANAPOLIS - In a move aimed at increasing consistency in property tax assessments, state lawmakers Wednesday took the first step toward abolishing township-level assessors and transferring their duties to county assessors.
A state Senate committee voted 5-4 to send Senate Bill 16 to the full Senate for consideration. Under the bill, county-level assessors would remain elected officials. Otherwise, it is similar to Gov. Mitch Daniels' property tax restructuring proposal, which called for county councils to appoint assessors.
While the bill's supporters conceded the monetary savings from eliminating township assessors would be modest at best, the committee focused on the bill's fairness. Many complaints about inconsistent assessments by elected township-level assessors led the current demand for property tax restructuring.
"Making sure we get people's assessments right when they're paying their taxes is exceedingly important," said Sen. Gary Dillon, R-Columbia City.
Dillon and others argued that by consolidating assessment duties within each county, neighboring property owners on bordering township lines would be less likely to see huge disparities in their property tax bills.
Several township assessors testified the bill would leave taxpayers without a name and face to hold accountable for their home assessments. But David Coker, chairman of the Vanderburgh County Taxpayers Association, said the subjective nature of assessments is unfair, when comparing townships to other townships within a county.
Coker said the bill does not go far enough, and argued the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance should handle the entire assessment process.
The Indiana Association of Realtors testified in favor of the bill. Its government affairs director, Sally Johnson, cited the system in the state of Maryland. There, a single state official is the head of assessments, and trained workers are hired by that official, she said.
But even that fails to address the real problem, Coker said.
"The bottom line is that spending at a local level is out of control, and borrowing at a local level is out of control," Coker said.
Until those issues are addressed, he said, high property taxes will remain a reality.
Lobbyists cited the Kernan-Shepard commission on local government reform, which recently recommended eliminating township-level government altogether.
The committee amended Senate Bill 16 to eliminate township assessors effective this July 1, six months earlier than the bill called for originally.
Township assessors told the committee that moving up the consolidation date would add to the already-long list of logistical roadblocks. Some county assessors' offices do not have the space, equipment or manpower to absorb the additional workload, they said.
In a colorful exchange, one township assessor suggested the switch posed some political problems, too.
"None of you (senators) want to see the shape the assessment process will be in at election time," said Becky Williams, the Franklin Township assessor in Marion County.
Meanwhile, the county assessor in Marion County, Gary Bowes, spoke in favor of the proposal.
"You've at least eliminated the lack of uniformity within (each) county," Bowes said.
Williams pointed to another problem of such consolidation - the politicization of the process of figuring out which township-level assessors will and won't work in the offices of the county-level assessors.
"I'm a Republican. (Bowes') fellow Democrats aren't going to want him to hire me," Williams said.