By ANNIE GOELLER, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Johnson County will not have to reassess the market values of homes, businesses and land, the state determined Thursday.
The decision was made after state officials reviewed the information used to reassess properties throughout the county.
Countywide, more than 80 percent of landowners' tax bills increased this year, partially due to increases in what the county deems properties are worth. On average, residential tax bills in Johnson County increased more than 19 percent.
Increases in tax bills were not part of the decision of whether reassessments were needed, said Cheryl Musgrave, Indiana Department of Local Government Finance commissioner.
The state reviewed the information county officials used to decide the market value of properties. One deciding factor was the percentage of commercial and industrial properties that did not change in assessed value.
If fewer than 60 percent of properties didn't change, the county typically is not reassessed, Musgrave said.
In counties where the values of more than 60 percent of properties did not change, the state typically saw that there was less effort to reassess properties and the county was flagged for reassessment, she said.
Johnson County's figures were on the border, as the values of 59 percent of commercial properties, nearly 62 percent of industrial properties and nearly 43 percent of residential properties did not change.
The state decided Johnson County should not be reassessed after reviewing more specific tax information, such as reassessments broken up by properties.
That information indicated that the county reassessed properties and did so accurately and equitably, said Mary Jane Michalak, spokeswoman for the department of government finance.
Johnson County Assessor Marla Hash said she was confident that the county did the assessment correctly but had gotten nervous as more time passed before the state announced a decision.
In other counties, state officials have said that not all properties were reassessed, and some were incorrectly reviewed or not reviewed at all.
Along with Johnson County, the state decided eight other counties will not be reassessed, including Lake and Allen counties. Four others, Crawford, Fulton, Jennings and Spencer counties, have been flagged for a possible reassessment and will need public hearings to determine what should happen next.
After the reviews, four counties will be reassessed, public hearings will be conducted in 17 counties to determine if a reassessment is needed, and 68 have been cleared, meaning a reassessment is not needed. Three counties are left for review.
The announcement Thursday doesn't get Johnson County off the hook entirely with the state.
The state is reviewing reassessment information from the auditor and assessor's offices to determine if it meets state guidelines. Information about property sales, which comes from the assessor's office, has been reviewed and is not compliant, Michalak said.
Hash said the county is working to fix the problem, which is with identification numbers. The state required that counties change the identification numbers on individual properties, and some of the numbers were entered incorrectly, she said.
She expects the corrected information to be sent to the state next week.