By Bryan Corbin, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS - Homeowners in Posey County and two other counties that were ordered to reassess would get tax credits instead of the widely criticized tax-rebate checks, under one of the bills that state legislators are introducing today, the first official day of the 2008 Legislature's session.
Lawmakers are reconvening as a group today for the first time in seven months and plan to tackle property taxes head-on.
A group of state senators this morning unveiled Senate Bill 21, which would allow for tax credits for three counties - Marion, Posey and Shelby - that have not yet completed new reassessments. Taxpayers in those counties, who had been paying 2007 property taxes at 2006 levels until reassessment is complete, face the prospect of paying a third "reconciliation" bill unless the Legislature acts first.
The bill the senators announced today would convert the tax-rebate check that homeowners in those three counties would receive sometime in 2008 into a tax credit, which should make paying a third bill unnecessary for most, the senators said.
The bill would not affect the other 89 counties, including several conducting new reassessments, where rebate checks are expected to be mailed out on time later this year or early in 2008. Last April, the Legislature approved the rebate checks - funded through $300 million in new revenue from slot machines at horse tracks - as a temporary property-tax relief measure.
Over the summer, the state ordered new "trending" reassessments in some counties because of wide disparities between the earlier assessments of residential property compared to commercial and industrial property.
Today's one-day organizational session is the kickoff of the 2008 session where property-tax reform will be the dominant issue. Legislation including Gov. Mitch Daniels' reform plan as well as other competing proposals is being introduced into the Legislature today. Committees of state lawmakers will conduct hearings on the proposals through December, with a plan of acting upon them in January.