State officials said Thursday they are withholding property tax rates from Lake County in a dispute with local officials over the quality of tax assessment data.
County Treasurer John Petalas said this puts his office in a bind because further delays in approving tax rates are pushing the delivery of property tax bills into the Yuletide season.
"We have to decide whether to send bills with the first installment due in November and the second installment just before Christmas or carry that over to 2008," he said.
Porter County is preparing to make up for lost time by requiring its property owners to pay their taxes in one lump sum. Petalas refuses to do that, saying it would unfair to lower-income residents who are used to paying in two installments.
The state apparently has everything it needs to approve local tax rates but a dust-up over next year's data is keeping Lake County property owners in the dark.
Nevertheless, the state won't release the rates, which are needed to calculate property tax bills, until Lake County cleans up records required for next year, Cheryl Musgrave, commissioner of the
Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, said Thursday.
The county has turned over the 2006 real estate sales records, but the state says the data either is incomplete or contains computer formatting errors. This year's property tax bills are based on real estate sales records from 2004 and 2005.
Musgrave said the problem with next year's data is the only thing holding up current tax rates, shrugging offing suggestions that the state lacks the manpower to crunch the numbers in a timely fashion.
While the current dispute has homeowners guessing at the size of their tax bills, another looming state showdown could hit Lake County where it hurts -- in the wallet.
State officials said Lake County owes data for taxes on business equipment and machinery for as far back as 2004. If the records are not turned over by Oct. 15, the state will begin withholding millions in assistance to county governments, including a $4 million check Lake County is due at the end of October.
Musgrave cited two reasons on the full-court press. "The governor and the Legislature," she said. "They have made it abundantly clear that we will get this data."
County Auditor Peggy Katona could not be reached Thursday afternoon for comment.
Staff writer Bill Dolan contributed to this report.