By JONDI SCHMITT, Princeton Daily Clarion
Staff Writer
On the heels of Gov. Mitch Daniels' order for a reassessment of Marion County property tax rates, the state's Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) has started to review information for Gibson County, where homeowners have received tax bills with average increases of more than 35 percent.
Property taxes have increased in 2007 all across the state at an average of 24 percent for residential properties, according to state estimates, which has many homeowners up in arms. The General Assembly tried to address the issue during the legislative session by earmarking $550 million for property tax relief, $300 million of which would appear to homeowners in the form of rebate checks late in 2007 or early 2008.
But Gibson County Assessor Juanita Beadles said she has no idea where the state got 24 percent as an average tax increase figure.
"I never believed 24 percent to begin with," she said. "No assessor that I know of would back up that figure. It would be like the radio reporting a chance of rain when there is already two inches on the ground."
DLGF data shows several counties like Gibson with increases of more than 35 percent, a figure Beadles said she is more likely to agree with.
And that has the governor concerned.
"That puts up a red flag to the governor for any county showing those kind of increases," said Jane Jankowski, spokesperson for the governor.
Daniels' ordered a complete reassessment Wednesday for Marion County - which had a 34 percent property tax increase - after a recommendation from the DLGF.
"The DLGF does have parcel by parcel data," Jankowski said. "You have a problem in any county if the analysis comes back and shows an increased percentage of non-residential parcels where the value did not change at all, like in Marion County."
Beadles said she isn't sure how the DLGF is able to come up with figures for the state when many counties don't have a tax rate yet. Gibson County, however, turned in tax information to the state in August 2006, which was approved on Oct. 4.
"Of course there were increases," Beadles said. "The state took away our inventory tax and nothing was done to soften the blow."
The state abolished inventory taxes in most counties in 2007 - spreading the burden among other taxpayers in the county.
Previously, inventory taxes and property taxes paid for local government spending, which covers a range of public-safety and education services. When the inventory tax was abolished, nothing was done to replace the millions of dollars each county lost.
Stephanie McFarland, DLGF spokesperson, said the high tax increases in Gibson County could be the result of any number of factors. In addition to the loss of inventory taxes, increases in market values or a disparity in the assessment of commercial versus residential properties could have led to the sharp tax hike.
While Jankowski said the reason for the disparity in Gibson County is not yet known, both the governor's office and the DLGF suspect the problem here is similar to that of Marion County, where a high percentage of industrial and commercial properties experienced no change in their assessed property values, while the differences were placed on the shoulders of residential property owners.
McFarland said analysis of Gibson County property tax rates could take at least a few weeks. The DLGF report will show if there was a disparity between commercial and residential assessments.
"In general, if you have a situation with significant increases we ask 'was there a disparity between residential and commercial," McFarland said. "This is a problem that is occurring across the state, not just in Gibson County."
At the completion of the analysis, the DLGF will review the data for all counties in question and make recommendations to the governor about reassessment. Daniels will be the one who ultimately decides whether properties in other counties - including Gibson - will be reassessed.
© Copyright 2024, Tri-State Media, Princeton, IN.