Porter County off reassessment hook

INDIANAPOLIS | Porter County doesn't have to redo its property tax assessment work, but the state won't sign off on new budgets for cities, schools and other local taxing units until the county hands over old tax data.

Cheryl Musgrave, Indiana Department of Local Government Finance commissioner, announced Thursday the state has ruled out reassessments for 15 more counties, including Porter.

"What this means is that the township assessors, along with the vendor and myself, have done a good job this year," said Shirley LaFever, Porter County deputy assessor.

An initial 11 counties were cleared earlier this month, but it's still too early for state officials to say what will happen in Lake County.

The problems are tied to trending, a new assessment system requiring local officials to sample recent real estate sales and create formulas estimating how much property values have climbed since 1999 -- the base year for the last reassessment -- to 2005.

Musgrave said the "data looks suspicious" in nine counties being forced to conduct reassessments, which typically means local officials failed to update the values of commercial and industrial properties, unfairly shifting tax burden to homeowners.

Musgrave said her agency is preparing to mail demand letters to as many as 89 counties that owe the state delinquent tax data. She said the state will withhold monthly aid payments and halt local budget approvals until the counties comply.

Porter County owes 2004 and 2005 data for taxes on business equipment and machinery, LaFever said.